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THE  DAIRYMAN'S  MANUAL 


A  PRACTICAL  TREATISE  ON 


THE    DAIRY 


INCLTTDIHrO 

THE  SELECTION  OF  THE  FARM,  THE  CULTIVATION  OF  CROPS,  THE 
SELECTION  AND  BREEDING  OF  COWS,  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE 
MILK,  MAKING  BUTTER  AND  CHEESE!,  AND  THE  TREAT- 
MENT   OF    DISEASES    INCIDENT    TO    DAISY   COWS. 


BY 

HENRY    STEWART, 

AtJTHOB  OF  "THB  SHSFHEBD'S  MANTJAL,"    "  IHBIGATION  FOE  THB  FABM,  QABDEITt 
AND  OBOHABP,"  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


NEW    YORK: 

ORANGE    JUDD    COMPANY, 

751    BROADWAY. 

1888. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1888,  by  the 

OKANGE    JUDD    CO., 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PUBLISHERS'    INTRODUCTION. 


The  dairy  industry  has  advanced  with  greater  strides 
during  the  last  two  decades  than  any  other  of  the  great 
agricultural  interests.  Formerly  it  was  mainly  confined 
to  New  England  and  the  Middle  States.  Now,  however, 
in  the  prairie  States  dairying  has  become  a  leading  in- 
dustry, and  it  is  notable  that  in  the  more  recently  settled 
territories  of  the  Northwest,  the  cheese  factory  or  cream- 
ery is  one  of  the  earliest  features  in  a  new  settlement. 
During  the  period  referred  to,  the  entire  business  of 
dairying  has  become  almost  revolutionized.  The  exten- 
sion of  the  associated  system,  the  invention  of  new  and 
greatly  improved  ii^plements  and  machinery,  and  new 
processes,  have  occasioned  these  radical  changes.  The 
present  work  embodies  a  full  knowledge  of  improved 
methods,  and  all  that  is  latest  and  most  valuable  in 
dairy  lore.  Its  author  has  long  occuined  an  advanced 
position  in  the  march  of  dairy  improvement,  as  a  prac- 
tical dairyman,  a  scientific  investigator,  and  a  writer  for 
the  press.  The  book  embraces  the  entire  subject,  and 
will  prove  a  trustworthy  hand-book  to  every  one  who 

is  interested  in  any  department  of  dairying. 
(m) 

47792 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I.                                 Page 
Dairy  Farming - - 7 

Chapter  II. 
Dairy  Farms. - IT 

Chapter  III. 

{^4'      Cows  for  the  Dairy ---  26 

Chapter  IV. 
Breeding  and  Rearing  Dairy  Cows 50 

Chapter  V. 
Crops  for  Dairy  Farms 59 

Chapter  VI. 
Grasses  for  Pastures  and  Meadows 66 

Chapter  VII. 
Soiling  and  Soiling  Crops 80 

Chapter  VIII. 
Ensilage  of  Fodder 88 

Chapter  IX. 
Dairy  Buildings - 9*^ 

Chapter  X. 
Water  Supply - 118 

Chapter  XI. 
Foods  for  Use  in  the  Dairy 127 

Chapter  XII. 
Feeding  Rations 147 

Chapter  XIII. 
Management  of  Cows  in  the  Stable. 175 

Chapter  XIV. 
/  Rearing  Calves  for  the  Dairy 184 

Chapter  XV. 
^  Milk 191 


VI  TABLE  OF  C01?^TEin:S. 

Chapter  XVI. 
Cream 207 

Chapter  XVn. 
Milking  and  Milking  Apparatus ..213 

Chapter  XVIII. 
The  Care  of  Milk. 231 

Chapter  XIX. 
Cream  and  its  Peculiarities. 259 

Chapter  XX. 
Churning  and  Churns 275 

Chapter  XXI. 
Butter -. 286 

Chapter  XXII. 
Creameries 309 

Chapter  XXIII. 
Ice-Houses -  -  - -324 

Chapter  XXIV. 
Cheese  Making.. 336 

Chapter  XXV. 
Milk  Dairying ..397 

Chapter  XXVI. 
Winter  Dairying 407 

Chapter  XXVn. 
The  Family  Dairy 418 

Chapter  XXVIII. 
Diseases  of  Cows 426 


THE  DAIRYMAN'S  MANUAL 


CHAPTER    I. 
DAIRY    FARMING, 


Daiey  farming  has  always  been,  and  will  always  be, 
the  most  profitable  branch  of  agriculture.  It  is  a  manu- 
facturing industry,  and  a  skilled  manufacture;  and  man- 
ufacturing finished  products  from  raw  materials  gives 
the  greatest  profits  to  the  labor  and  skill  which  the  enter- 
prising man  devotes  to  the  industry.  It  is  so  with  all 
manufactures.  The  cotton  planter,  who  grows  the  cotton 
for  the  spinner  and  weaver,  is  hard  worked,  lives  poorly, 
and  never  has  been  known  to  accumulate  a  sufficient 
fortune  to  relieve  him  from  work  ;  but  the  cotton  manu- 
facturers, who  work  up  the  planter's  product,  are  pro- 
verbially wealthy,  and  build  up  rapid  and  large  fortunes 
from  their  skill  and  enterprise.  It  is  so  in  all  agricul- 
tural labor.  The  grain  farmer  is  not  only  the  slave  and 
the  victim  of  all  the  adversities  of  season  and  weather 
and  markets,  but  he  sees  the  richest  portion  of  his  land 
carried  off  in  his  exhaustive  crops,  while  these  leave  him 
nothing  where  with  to  restore  his  fields  to  fertility;  and  he 
is  in  the  unhappy  condition — if  he  is  a  thoughtful  man 
— of  one  who  is  living  upon  his  capital,  and  is  daily  eating 
('7)  Library 

N.  estate  College 


8 

from  a  circumscribed  and  fixed  store,  the  end  of  which 
he  sees  gradually  approaching  day  by  day,  without  any 
means  in  his  power  of  averting  the  impending  exhaustion. 
But  when  he  feeds  his  grain,  and  alternates  these  crops 
with  grass  and  feeding  crops,  and  transforms  them  into 
cattle  or  sheep,  horses  or  hogs,  he  becomes  a  manufac- 
turer— partially  so,  it  is  true — and  he  immediately  reaps 
not  only  a  second  profit  from  his  products,  but  he  finds 
in  his  manure  heaps  a  permanent  source  of  fertility  which 
flows  over  and  replenishes  his  soil. 

The  dairy  farmer  has  a  still  further  advantage  in  that 
he  not  only  rears  and  feeds  cattle,  but  he  keeps  cows  from 
which  he  procures  milk,  and  of  this  milk  he  makes  but- 
ter and  cheese,  consuming  by  his  young  stock  all  the 
wastes  of  these  manufactured  articles,  and  selling  from 
his  farm  a  highly  finished  product  in  a  concentrated  form 
which  carries  away  practically  nothing  in  the  shape  of 
the  fertile  elements  of  his  land.  Moreover,  be  purchases 
cheap  waste  products  and  turns  these  into  costly  finished 
products,  reserving  the  valuable  wastes  of  them  for  the 
enriching  of  his  soil.  For  instance,  the  farmer  who  sells 
a  ton  of  hay  for  fifteen  dollars  has  nothing  but  this 
money  in  return  for  his  labor  and  a  certain  quantity  of 
the  richest  elements  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  farmer  who  sells  thirty  bushels  of  corn  from 
an  acre  of  land  for  the  same  sum  of  money.  The  farmer 
who  feeds  the  hay  or  the  corn  to  a  steer  or  to  sheep 
doubles  his  income,  and  retains  a  large  portion  of  the 
substance  of  his  crops,  w^hich  is  returned  to  the  land. 
But  the  dairyman  who  makes  cheese  or  butter  trebles 
his  income,  and  retains  nearly  everything  of  value  which 
the  crops  he  has  fed  to  his  cows  have  drawn  from  the 
soil,  and  he  has  expended  nothing  but  his  labor,  for  which 
he  receives  liberal  pay.  If  he  purchase  hay  from  his 
neighbor,  he  makes  a  handsome  profit  from  this;  and  if 
he  buys  bran  or  other  feeding  substances,  he  makes  a 


DAIRY   FARMIKG.  9 

profit  from  them;  and  thus  turns  his  labor  to  the  most 
useful  and  valuable  account.  *^In  all  labor  there  is 
profit ''  is  as  true  to-day  as  when  it  was  written  by  the 
wisest  of  men,  the  only  qualification  being — as  we  may 
assume  is  implied  in  the  proverb — that  the  labor  is  wisely 
and  rightly  directed.  And  thus  the  dairyman,  who  of  all 
farmers  expends  the  most  labor  upon  his  farm  and  in  his 
business,  must  necessarily  reap  the  most  profit. 

WHAT  A   DAIRYMAID   SHOULD   BE. 

It  is  a  trite  but  true  adage  that  in  all  sorts  of  farming 
'*  there  is  more  in  the  man  than  there  is  in  the  land  ;" 
and  this  applies  in  the  most  forcible  manner  to  the  dairy- 
man. For  he  must  not  only  be  a  skillful  farmer,  but  a 
good  judge  of  cattle;  a  careful,  cautious  man,  and  habit- 
ually regular  in  his  habits;  endowed  with  the  virtues  of 
patience  and  perseverance,  and  good  sound  common 
sense;  he  must  be  studious,  of  a  retentive  memory,  and 
able  to  judge  wisely  as  to  points  of  his  business  which 
may  be  in  dispute;  a  good  business  man;  and  of  a  Qexi^st^"^ 
refined  disposition  and  habits,  and  exceedingly  neat  and 
particular  in  his  person.  All  these  characteristics  are 
indispensable  for  success  in  his  vocation,  and  for  the 
following  reasons  : — 

1st.  He  must  be  a  skillful  farmer,  because  he  must 
grow  a  large  variety  of  crops,  and  make  his  soil  exceed- 
ingly productive  by  the  aid  of  the  large  quantity  of 
manure  he  may  make  and  gather;  and  he  must  expend 
the  crops  he  raises  in  the  most  economical  and  effective 
manner.  He  must  understand  well  the  character  and 
uses  of  different  kinds  of  soil,  so  that  he  may  select  the 
best  suited  for  his  purpose;  and  he  musfc  know  how  to 
manage  such  land  as  he  can  best  select  or  procure  with 
the  greatest  effect  and  success.  His  profit  depends  upon 
the  raising  of  large  crops,  and  those  of  the  most  valuable 
kinds  for  feeding;  and  he  must  thoroughly  understand 


10  THE   dairyman's   MAITITAL. 

the  different  methods  of  culture  for  gram,  grass,  root 
and  fodder  crops.  All  this  is  indispensable  for  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  dairy  farming. 

2d.  He  must  be  a  good  judge  of  cattle,  because  the 
cows  are  the  tools  of  his  trade,  and  without  the  best  tools 
no  good  work  can  be  done.  Moreover,  there  is  such  a 
large  variety  of  breeds,  and  such  a  great  variation  in  the 
quality  of  cows  in  use  for  dairy  purposes,  that  without 
good  judgment,  and  some  accurate  knowledge  as  a  basis 
for  the  exercise  of  judgment  in  this  respect,  a  dairyman 
would  be  at  a  loss  how  to  make  a  proper  selection,  and 
would  be  very  apt  to  make  a  serious  and  perhaps  ruinous 
blunder  at  the  outset.  There  are  exceedingly  great 
differences  in  cows,  and  yet,  as  a  rule,  good  cows  are 
easily  distinguished  from  poor  and  unprofitable  ones,  and 
the  distinguishing  marks  and  characteristics  should  be 
well  known  to  the  dairyman  who  expects  to  make  his 
profit  from  them.  So,  too,  he  should  be  able  to  choose 
^e  most  promising  calves  from  which  to  replenish  his 
stock,  and  also  to  choose  a  good  sire  for  his  calves^  that 
he  may  steadily  improve  his  herd  in  character  and  value. 
It  is  also  indispensable  for  full  success  in  the  dairy  that 
the  dairyman  should  be  able  to  judge  of  the  character  of 
the  cows  he  is  feeding,  that  he  may  discard  those  which 
are  not  profitable  and  keep  only  those  which  pay  the 
best  for  keeping ;  and  while  there  are  certain  accurate 
tests  by  which  this  can  be  ascertained,  yet  it  is  a  valuable 
acquisition  for  a  dairyman  that  he  can  tell  at  a  glance 
which  cows  of  his  herd  are  the  best  and  which  he  had 
better  get  rid  of  as  soon  as  practicable. 

3d.  Carefulness  in  every  detail,  cautious  supervision 
over  his  stock,  and  in  every  little  matter  which  calls  for 
change  or  modification  of  method,  are  necessary  qualifica- 
tions in  the  dairy.  A  thousand  small  things  are  coming 
up  at  times  which  need  foresight  to  guard  against,  and 
caution  to  avoid  or  evade.     There  are  so  many  contin- 


DAIRY   FARMING.  11 

gencies  which  are  to  be  apprehended  constantly,  and  so 
many  accidents  continually  threaten  to  occur  in  this  most 
intricate  business,  that  unless  one  is  naturally  inclined  to 
be  careful  in  every  matter  of  management,  the  accidents 
which  will  surely  follow  will-  be  sufficient  to  rob  the. 
dairyman  of  his  profit.  For  instance,  a  gate  may  be  left 
open,  and  the  cows  thus  get  into  a  luxuriant  clover  field, 
becoming"^  bloated  or  otherwise  injured,  and  some  of 
them  be  permanently  ruined ;  or  a  cow  may  be  left 
unfastened  in  her  stall  and  spend  the  night  roaming 
about  the  stable,  molesting  the  other  cows  and  perhaps 
injuring  or  even  killing  one  or  more  of  them.  The  feed 
box  may  be  left  open  and  the  loose  cow  may  be  found 
dead  in  the  morning  from  overgorging  herself  with  the 
feed.  The  water  trough  may  be  permitted  to  overflow 
on  a  cold  day  and  an  icy  spot  thereby  formed  upon 
which  a  cow  may  slip  and  fatally  injure  herself.  The 
root  cellar  may  be  left  open  and  the  roots  become  frozen, 
and  this  stock  of  indispensable  feed  be  lost.  The  water 
trough  may  be  leaking  and  the  cows  may  go  without  a 
supply  for  the  day,  and  half  the  day's  milk  be  lost.  And 
so  on  all  through  the  daily  routine  of  work  there  are 
many  chances  of  damage  which  are  to  be  avoided  only 
by  the  exercise  of  great  care  and  constant  caution. 

Regularity  too  in  every  detail  must  not  be  neglected. 
It  is  one  of  the  rarest  attributes  of  a  man,  to  be  con- 
stantly regular  to  hours  and  minutes,  and  to  methods. 
And  yet  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  dairy.  A 
cow  is  a  machine  for  making  milk  and  butter.  This 
fact  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  And  the  cow  must 
be  fed  and  watered,  and  supplied  with  every  attention: 
milked,  turned  out  and  turned  in,  protected  from  storm 
and  weather,  and  in  every  way  managed  with  perfect 
regularity.  She  is  an  accurate  time  keeper,  and  if  her 
feed  is  late  she  frets,  and  fretting  wastes  milk,  and  the 
milk  loses  cream.     This  fact  was  learned  by  the  writer 


12  THE   DAIKYMAN'S  MANUAL. 

in  a  manner  which  could  not  be  mistaken.  It  was  the 
custom  for  years  in  his  dairy  to  feed  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning  and  to  milk  at  six,  every  day  but  Sun- 
days, when  the  work  was  delayed  an  hour,  or  somewhat 
more.  As  an  accurate  record  was  kept  of  every  milking 
of  each  cow,  it  was  soon  found  that  the  quantity  of 
milk  on  the  Sunday  evening  and  Monday  morning  fell  off 
considerably,  as  much  as  from  two  to  four  jfounds  per 
cow,  some  cows  losing  considerably  more  than  this — one 
nervous,  fretting  beast,  which  could  scarcely  wait  her 
turn  to  be  fed,  losing  the  most.  The  result  was  so 
closely  connected  with  the  cause  that  there  could  be  no 
doubt  of  it ;  and  yet  out  of  regard  for  the  day,  and  on 
the  principle  of  doing  as  little  work  as  possible  on  the 
day  of  rest,  this  loss  was  submitted  to  without  complaint. 
The  feed  also,  being  prepared  on  Saturday  afternoons 
for  the  whole  of  the  next  day  and-  Monday  morning,  was 
not  so  fresh,  and  this  irregularity  had  its  share  in  the 
result.  And  so  it  is  in  other  respects.  The  milk  must 
be  skimmed  at  regular  periods ;  the  cream  kept  at  a 
regular  and  even  temperature,  stirred  at  every  addition 
of  fresh  cream- to  keep  the  quality  and  acidity  properly 
adjusted ;  the  temperature  in  the  milk-room  must  be 
regularly  maintained  at  sixty-two  degrees  ;  and  every 
other  detail  is  to  be  kept  even  and  regular  from  hour  to 
hour  and  from  day  to  day.  If  the  man  or  woman  upon 
whom  such  work  devolves  has  not  an  instinct  of  regu- 
larity, or  has  not  made  a  habit  of  it  by  constant  discipline, 
the  labor  will  be  irksome,  irregularity  will  soon  prevail, 
and  the  dairyman  will  not  prosper  as  he  might  and 
should  do. 

4th.  Patience,  perseverance  and  good  common  sense 
are  requisite  for  success  in  the  dairy.  From  ihe  training 
of  a  calf  to  the  last  operation  in  dairying,  patience  is 
called  for.  The  calves  and  cows  should  be  well  trained, 
and  made  docile  and  good  natured.     This  cannot  be  se- 


DAIRY  FARMIITG.  13 

cured  unless  the  trainer  is  a  patient  man,  able  to  control 
his  feelings,  and  quell  any  rising  anger  stimulated  by 
some  accidental  mischance.  Impatience  will  make  cows 
vicious,  and  their  owners,  at  times,  brutal.  An  acci- 
dental movement  made  by  a  cow,  when  the  milker  is 
careless  or  incautious,  may  cause  a  pail  of  milk  to  be 
overset.  An  impatient  man  will  kick  or  beat  the  cow 
for  his  fault ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  he  should  at  every 
moment  be  on  his  guard  for  such  accidents,  and  always 
ready  to  avoid  them.  We  should  remember  that  the 
man  is  the  reasonable  animal,  able  to  exert  self-control 
and.  to  think,  while  the  cow  has  only  a  natural  instinct, 
and  that  alone  makes  her  suspicious  and  always  on  the 
defensive  against  danger  or  attack.  An  unguarded,  hasty 
approach  may  cause  a  cow  to  kick  or  attempt  to  do  it 
instinctively,  and  to  avoid  all  such  dangers  the  dairy- 
man should,  as  we  have  already  shown,  be  exceedingly 
cautious ;  but  when  they  occur,  the  greatest  patience  is 
to  be  exercised.  Cows  should  be  pets,  without  fear,  and 
with  affection  for  their  keepers  ;  they  are  then  most 
profitable  to  their  owners ;  and  to  bring  them  to  this 
desirable  condition  of  docility  the  dairyman  must  exercise 
great  and  constant  patience  with  them. 

Perseverance  and  common  sense  will  enable  one  to 
surmount  difficulties  and  to  apply  proper  remedies  for 
them  at  the  riglit  moment.  Dairy  work  is  full  of  risks, 
and  as  few  persons  are  able  to  meet  every  contingency 
until  they  have  long  experience,  it  is  necessary  to  perse- 
vere in  spite  of  disappointments,  using  good  common 
sense  to  make  the  lessons  learned  from  time  to  time 
available  for  future  service. 

5th.  A  dairyman  must  be  studious,  and  remember 
what  he  learns,  applying  his  gathered  information  to  the 
better  working  of  his  dair3\  There  is  no  oth^r  business 
connected  with  agriculture  which  is  so  intricate  and 
involves    so    many    uncertainties,    or    which    requires 


14  THE  dairyman's  MANUAL. 

such  constant  application  of  special  scientific  experiment 
and  of  careful  personal  investigation  and  practice ;  and 
to  meet  successfully  all  these  and  other  requirements  of 
his  work,  a  dairyman  must  have  at  least  a  fair  knowledge 
of  dairy  literature,  and  know  what  other  dairymen  are 
doing,  and  what  is  done  at  the  numerous  experiment 
stations  and  by  private  investigations.  At  least  he  must 
have  a  good  handbook  or  manual  for  reference  in  case  of 
need,  and  must  not  be  averse  to  learn  something  from 
every  possible  source  of  information.  Besides,  one  man 
alone  is  weak  and  helpless,  and  knowing  this,  the  dairy- 
men have  formed  associations  for  mutual  help  and  infor- 
mation. It  is  very  necessary  then  that  every  dairyman 
should  make  himself  competent  to  discuss  at  these  meet- 
ings such  questions  as  may  arise,  so  that  from  a  multi- 
tude of  counselors  he  may  find  safety  from  the  diflBcultiea 
which  he  meets  constantly  in  his  daily  work. 

6th.  The  dairyman  must  be  a  good  business  man,  and 
make  himself  acquainted  with  the  ordinary  principles  of 
business ;  able  to  keep  accounts,  and  discipline  himself 
as  much  as  possible  in  the  strict  rules  of  regularity  and 
promptness  which  conduce  so  much  to  success  in  any 
avocation.  He  is  a  manufacturer  as  well  as  a  farmer  ;  a 
purchaser  and  a  seller  in  the  markets,  and  should  there- 
fore keep  himself  acquainted  with  the  markets,  and 
should  habituate  himself  to  weigh  and  measure  accur- 
ately everything  he  buys,  everything  he  produces,  and  all 
that  he  sells,  keeping  strict  account  of  all  these  matters. 
Otherwise  he  cannot  tell  where  he  loses  and  where  he 
makes  profit ;  he  will  not  know  an  unprofitable  animal 
from  a  well  paying  one  ;  he  will  not  know  which  are  the 
best  and  most  profitable  crops  to  grow  for  use,  or  the 
best  foods  to  purchase  ;  he  will  be  groping  in  the  dark  all 
the  time,  and  must  necessarily  suffer  in  pocket  from  his 
want  of  accurate  knowledge  of  his  business. 

Lastly,  he  should  cultivate  a  certain  refinement  of  man- 


DAIRY  FARMING.  15 

ner  and  disposition,  a  kind,  considerate  and  thought- 
ful habit,  and,  above  all,  practice  the  most  thorough 
neatness  and  cleanliness  in  his  person  and  manner. 
These  requirements  should  be  so  constantly  cultivated 
that  they  will  become  a  second  nature,  an  instinct  which 
is  so  thoroughly  and  completely  a  part  of  the  man's  char- 
acter that  they  come  into  action  spontaneously  and  with- 
out thought  or  effort  on  his  part.  For  instance,  the 
treatment  of  his  cows  should  be  instinctively  kind  and 
gentle,  and  the  dairyman  must  so  train  himself  to  this 
habit,  think  of  it  so  often,  and  make  it  so  much  a  con- 
scientious duty  and  a  regular  system  of  action,  that  he 
will  never  be  tempted  to  act  otherwise.  Mr.  Harris 
Lewis,  President  of  the  New  York  State  Dairymen's  As- 
sociation, once  remarked  in  reply  to  a  question  as  to  how 
cows  should  be  treated,  that  every  man  should  treat  a 
cow  as  he  would  a  lady;  that  is,  with  as  much  considera- 
tion for  her  comfort  and  happiness,  and  with  the  same 
gentleness  and  politeness.  Politeness  is  simply  the  es- 
sence of  thoughtful  kindness,  and  this  every  dairyman 
should  accord  to  his  cows  as  a  matter  of  common  habit. 
Cows  so  used  will  well  repay  the  favor,  and  in  turn  be- 
come kind  and  gentle,  and  never  exasperate  or  annoy 
their  owners  with  the  common  and  troublesome  vices  of 
cows.  Perfect  cleanliness  should  be  made  a  constant 
study,  until  it  is  so  thoroughly  a  part  of  the  daily  life 
that  a  dairyman  would  no  sooner  milk  a  cow  or  handle 
milk  or  butter,  or  go  about  the  work  in  the  dairy,  in  an 
unclean  condition  or  manner,  than  he  would  put  a  dirty 
hand  in  his  food,  or  go  to  a  social  gathering  all  unwashed 
and  with  clothes  reeking  with  filth.  This  scrupulous 
cleanliness  is  indispensable  in  the  dairy,  and  it  should  be 
so  made  a  part  of  the  nature  and  disposition  of  the 
dairyman  by  constant  self-training,  that  it  will  naturally 
apply  itself  to  every  part  of  the  dairy  work — the  care 
of  the  stables,  the  management  of  the  cows,  frequent 


16  THE 

carding  and  brushing  them,  the  washing  of  the  udder 
when  necessary,  but  always  the  wiping  of  it  with  a  wet 
sponge  or  towel,  the  cleansing  of  the  utensils,  the  careful 
protection  of  the  milk  from  everything  which  would 
make  it  impure  or  offensive,  the  situation  and  care  of  the 
milk-house,  the  manner  of  milking,  churning  and  pre-, 
paring  the  butter,  with  every  other  of  the  various  de- 
tails of  the  work.  In  every  way  the  most  constant  and 
perfect  cleanliness  being  necessary,  this  habit  must  be  so 
thorough  and  strong  that  no  effort  will  be  needed  to  ac- 
commodate one's  self  to  it,  and  therefore  it  must  be  made 
a  part  of  himself  by  every  thorough  and  successful 
dairyman. 

In  the  following  chapters  it  will  be  made  apparent 
how  very  great  and  important  results  hang  upon  the 
merest  trifles,  as  one  might  suppose,  in  dairy  work. 
But  it  is  in  regard  to  these  trifles  that  most  of  fhe  great 
affairs  of  nature  and  industry  depend  for  their  results. 
A  spark  of  the  smallest  size  dropped  into  a  powder  maga- 
zine may  lay  a  town  in  ruins  or  destroy  a  great  ship  and 
a  thousand  lives.  One  single»grain  of  sand  will  destroy 
the  balance  of  a  great  mass  of  matter  ;  a  single  degree  of 
temperature  is  sufficient  to  turn  water  into  ice,  or  solid 
ice  into  liquid  ;  and  is^it  strange,  therefore,  that  little 
things  should  have  an  important  effect  upon  the  quality 
and  the  value  of  tbe  butter,  and  so  affect  seriously  the 
question,  of  a  man's  success  in  business,  or  of  profit  or 
loss  in  it  ?  For  this  reason  my  readers  will  be  asked 
to  consider  every  supposed  trifle  mentioned  in  these 
pages  to  be  of  importance  to  them,  because  good  reasons 
can  be  given  for  it,  and  my  own  experience  has  shown  in 
every  case  that  the  little  things  which  may  be  referred 
to  are  really  not  small  by  any  means,  but  of  serious  im- 
portance in  their  result. 


DAIRY   FARMS.  17 

CHAPTER   IT. 
DAIRY    FARMS. 

The  choice  of  land  for  a  dairy  farm  should  be  made 
with  reference  to  some  special  points  which  have  a  great 
influence  on  the  successful  pursuit  of  the  business.  Some 
particular  localities  excel  in  this  respect.  Vermont, 
Western  Isew  York,  Western  Pennsylvania,  the  Western 
Reserve  of  Ohio,  Central  Wisconsin,  and  parts  of  Iowa, 
have  become  noted  for  the  excellent  quality  of  their  dairy 
products,  and  have  gained  a  high  reputation  as  dairy 
districts.  If  we  consider  how  truly  these  localities  excel 
in  this,  we  find  they  possess  some  special  peculiarities  of 
soil  and  herbage.  All  of  them  are  underlaid  by  a  lime- 
stone formation,  and  have  a  somewhat  loamy  open  soil, 
which  produces  very  sweet  and  nutritious  herbage,  con- 
sisting mainly  of  blue  grass,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called, 
June  grass,  the  Poa  pratensis  of  the  botanists,  and 
Kentucky  blue  grass  of  the  seedsmen.  They  are  some- 
what rolling  or  even  hilly  as  to  surface,  are  well  drained 
naturally,  and  are  well  supplied  with  good  pure  water, 
more  or  less  impregnated  with  lime,  or  as  is  commonly 
called,  hard.  As  pasturage  is  the  main  reliance  of  the 
cows,  the  herbage  and  the  character  of  the  surface  are 
important  considerations ;  for  the  quality  of  the  grass 
has  much  to  do  with  the  character  of  the  milk,  cheese 
and  butter,  and  the  ease  of  locomotion  of  the  cattle  over 
gentle  slopes,  and  the  general  healthfulness  of  such 
ground,  are  equally  important. 

If  we  go  abroad  into  foreign  countries,  we  shall  find 
that  similar  peculiarities  of  the  land  have  conferred 
upon  certain  districts  the  character  and  reputation 
of  excellent  dairy  localities.  The  English  counties  of 
Cheshire^  wher^  the  famous   Cheshire  cheese  is  made, 


18  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

Derbyshire,  where  the  first  cheese  factory  in  England 
was  established,  Leicestershire,  where  the  exquisite 
Stilton  cheese  is  produced,  Wiltshire  and  Gloucester- 
shire, where  also  fine  cheese  of  peculiar  excellence  is 
made,  and  some  other  places,  as  Dunlop  in  Scot- 
land, where  Cheddar  cheese  was  first  made,  and  which 
had  a  reputation  for  its  fine  cheese  a  hundred  years 
ago,  are  all  noted  for  the  very  same  peculiarities  of 
geological  formation,  soil  and  character  of  surface  and 
healthfulness.  So  that  these  circumstances  being  gen- 
eral, a  rule  may  be  predicated,  that  in  choosing  the  local- 
ity and  soil  for  a  dairy  farm,  these  characteristics  should 
be  sought  in  the  land  to  be  chosen. 

But  not  every  farm  can  be  of  this  kind,  and  not  one- 
tenth  part  of  the  number  of  dairy  farms  are  located  in 
these  districts.  These  farms  are  found  everywhere,  and 
cheese  factories,  creameries  and  private  dairies  are  scat- 
tered thickly  over  the  whole  face  of  the  country,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  even  bordering  on  the 
sea  shores.  Nevertheless,  there  are  certain  requisites 
to  be  secured  whenever  a  farm  is  sought  for  dairying, 
which  the  farmer  who  is  turning  his  attention  to  this 
lucrative  pursuit  would  do  well  to  recognize  and  under- 
stand. The  choice  may  be  large  and  wide,  if  these  cer- 
tain necessary  points  are  found.  The  land  must  be  well- 
drained^  or  it  will  not  grow  full  crops  or  the  most 
nutritious  herbage,  and  will  not  be  healthful.  If  it  is 
not  so  drained  naturally,  it  should  be  done  artificially 
and  thorouglily.  This  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  for 
often  the  richest  and  most  fertile  soil  is  in  low  bottom 
or  swampy  land,  wanting  only  drainage  to  become  pro- 
ductive of  the  best  permanent  grass,  and  such  crops  are 
the  most  valuable  for  feeding  cows.  The  kind  of  soil  is 
of  less  importance,  because  there  are  so  many  different 
ways  of  managing  the  business,  that  it  is  only  necessary 
for  the  farmer  to  adapt  his  methods  to  his  soil,  to  equal- 


DAIRY  FARMS.  19 

ize  whatever  differences  he  might  be  obHged  to  meet. 
For  instance,  the  cheaper  lands,  which  are  at  a  distance 
from  the  best  markets,  must  be  adapted  to  pasture,  and 
the  heavier  clay  soils  of  a  somewhat  moist  character  are 
preferable.  Even  a  poorer  class  of  soils,  if  they  are 
adapted  for  grass  and  are  cheap  enough,  may  answer 
very  well  for  dairy  purposes;  because  it  is  the  low  cost  of 
the  product  in  localities  which  are  distant  from  markets 
which  enables  dairymen  to  compete  favorably  with  others 
whose  land,  nearer  to  markets,  is  more  costly.  Cheap 
land  is  a  great  advantage  in  dairying,  for  butter  and 
cheese  are  concentrated  products,  and  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation is  light.  It  was  the  cheap  lands  of  the  West 
which  changed  the  center  of  the  dairy  business  from 
Western  New  York  to  Wisconsin  and  Iowa ;  for  they 
attracted  the  best  and  most  enterprising  farmers,  who 
removed  thither,  tempted  by  this  advantage  of  cheap  soil, 
and  there,  adopting  the  best  methods  of  practice,  quickly 
lifted  from  Western  dairy  products  the  stigma  of  their 
previous  low  quality,  and  raised  them  to  the  highest 
point  of  value  in  the  Eastern  markets  by  the  force  of  their 
high  excellence.  It  is  this,  too,  which  is  constantly 
moving  the  center  of  the  business  to  the  West,  and  will 
soon  bring  the  cheap  and  rich  lands  of  the  South  into 
competition  with  the  Eastern  districts. 

But  while  this  is  true,  the  system  of  soiling  and 
high  culture  of  the  land  enables  the  owners  of  higher 
priced  farms  in  the  more  thickly  populated  East  to  carry 
on  the  business  profitably,  by  producing  goods  of  fine 
quality,  and  supplying  the  best  classes  of  consumers  and 
the  dealers  in  fine  groceries  with  small  quantities  in  a 
perfectly  fresh  condition,  and  by  catering  to  the  special 
wants  of  these  purchasers,  who  desire  their  butter  and 
cheese  put  up  in  attractive  forms.  For  this  purpose  the 
kind  of  soil  is  of  little  account,  as  this  class  of  dairymen 
are  skillful  farmers,  who  generally  own  fine  stock,  and 


20  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

know  how  to  manage  their  farms  in  the  most  suitable 
manner  for  the  production  of  soiling  crops;  and  they  are 
near  the  markets  where  cheap  concentrated  food  can  be 
procured. 

Some  of  the  best  fancy  dairies  are  found  near  the  large 
cities,  upon  light  and  inferior  soils  which  are  unfit  for 
pastures  and  permanent  meadows,  but  which  are  made 
to  produce  heavy  crops  of  roots,  fodder  corn,  clover,  or- 
chard grass,  millet,  mixed  peas  and  oats,  and  other  kinds 
of  fodder  ;  and  which,  by  the  aid  of  the  practice  of  ensi- 
lage, are  made  to  support,  in  many  cases,  one  cow  or 
more  tq  each  acre  the  year  round.  In  some  localities, 
manure  from  the  cities  and  special  fertilizers  are  pro- 
cured to  aid  in  keeping  these  light  lands  in  the  highest 
state  of  fertility;  so  that,  on  the  whole,  it  may  be  said 
that  in  choosing  a  dairy  farm  the  experienced  dairyman 
is  not  bound  by  any  circumstances,  but  may  safely  take 
the  best  situation  for  his  purpose,  a  favorable  location 
being  of  the  greatest  concern  to  him. 

In  general,  however,  the  dairyman  would  safely  choose 
a  moderately  level  farm,  well  watered,  having  a  some- 
what firm  clay  loam  soil,  Ipng  in  a  compact  shape,  with 
a  convenient  spot  near  the  center  of  it  for  his  buildings, 
and  as  near  to  a  railroad  station  as  possible.  If  there  is  a 
permanent  cool  spring  upon  it,  that  would  be  a  great  ad- 
vantage ;  and  if  the  spring  is  located  near  the  dwelling, 
and  in  a  convenient  place  for  the  milk-house,  it  would 
be  still  better. 

Perhaps  the  plan  of  the  author's  farm,  given  at  figure 
1,  might  be  suggestive  of  what  can  be  done  in  laying  out 
a  farm  for  a  dairy,  which  at  first  seemed  to  offer  many 
disadvantages.  The  soil  is  a  light  sand  and  far  from 
fertile  naturally,  but  a  swamp  meadow  contributed 
ample  supplies  of  rich  muck,  and  a  railroad  station  a  few 
miles  only  from  New  York  City  gave  good  facilities  for 
procuring  abundance  of  manure  to  aid  in  growing  root 


DAIRY  FARMS. 


21 


and  soiling  crops.  A  public  road  ran  along  the  front  of 
the  farm  and  another  divided  it  into  two  nearly  equal 
parts.  By  fencing  in  an  open  wood  lot  and  seeding  it 
down  with  mixed  grasses,  a  shaded  pasture,  supplied  with 
a  permanent  spring,  was  made  for  the  exercise  of  the 
cows.  A  small  pasture  field  was  made  by  seeding  with 
orchard  grass  and  clover  near  the  barnyard,  and  a  gate 
on  the  road  gave  easy  access  to  it.  Another  lot  seeded 
to  mixed  grasses  was  made  at  the  back  of  the  barn,  and  a 
gate  opened  to  it  from  the  yard.     A  small  grass  lot  was 


5>Mtr 


Fig.  1.— PLAN   OP  A  DAIRY  FARM. 

kept  for  calves  adjoining  the  calf  pen.  These  lots  were 
fenced,  but  the  rest  of  the  land  was  all  thrown  into  two 
fields,  which  were  cultivated  for  fodder  and  root  crops. 
A  brook  supplied  the  calf  lot  and  one  grass  lot  with 
water  ;  a  spring  and  a  small  run  supplied  the  woods  pas- 
ture. A  dwarf  pear  orchard  near  the  house  made  a  run 
for  calves  and  poultry,  of  which  a  number  of  light 
Brahmas  were  kept  for  market  chickens.  The  barnyard 
contained  half  an  acre  ;  the  barn,  sheds,  bull  and  calf 
pens,  and  stable,  formed  a  right  angle  facing  to  the  south. 


^2  THE  DAlRYMAN^S  MANUAL. 

The  yard  was  surrounded  with  old  shady  cherry  trees  on 
the  south  side,  and  a  lane  gave  an  outlet  in  front  of  the 
yard  to  the  road.  A  gate  opened  from  the  yard  into 
the  road,  opposite  the  lane  leading  to  the  woods  pasture. 
A  spring  near  the  house  gave  an  opportunity  for  making 
la  convenient  milk-house  with  a  cool  deep  pool  for  setting 
[deep  pails,  and  an  apartment  for  churning,  and  storing 
butter,  pails,  etc.  The  dairy-house  was  in  a  grass  plot 
upon  which  calves  were  occasionally  tethered,  and  this 
was  shaded  by  apple  trees.  Access  from  the  house  to  the 
barn  and  to  the  milk-house  was  open  and  unobstructed 
with  any  obstacle,  excepting  the  small  hand  gates  through 
the  two  yards — a  second  yard  being  enclosed  in  front  of 
the  cow  yard  ;  it  contained  the  horse  stable  and  the 
poultry  house. 

This  plan  was  gradually  grown  up  to  by  various  addi- 
tions which  were  made  as  the  farm,  at  first  exceedingly 
poor,  was  brought  into  better  condition.  The  farm  was 
not  designedly  purchased,  but  came  into  the  hands  of  the 
author  by  accident.  It  was  almost  hopelessly  barren, 
but  the  land  was  located  near  a  village  and  had  some  ex- 
trinsic value  on  that  account.  It  was  taken  in  hand  for 
the  purpose  of  an  experiment  designed  to  prove  if  it  were 
possible  to  make  a  poor  farm  fertile  in  such  a  way  as  to 
pay  for  the  improvement,  and  by  what  means  this  im- 
provement could  be  made  most  easily  and  rapidly.  The 
author's  previous  experience  in  dairying  led  him  to  choose 
this  as  the  most  effective  means  for  arriving  at  the  de- 
sired end.  Previously  one  cow  only  was  kept  on  the  farm. 
This  number  was  at  once  increased  to  fifteen,  and  a  milk 
dairy  was  established.  The  food  was  wholly  purchased, 
and  an  attempt  was  made  to  make  the  cows  pay  all 
the  expenses  from  the  milk,  and  so  supply  the  badly 
needed  manure  for  the  improvement  of  the  farm.  Clover, 
roots,  corn,  and  fodder  corn  were  at  first  grown  by  the 
help  of  artificial  fertilizers.     The  attempt  was  wholly 


DAIRY  ^ARMS.  ^3 

successful.  The  income  from  a  milk  route,  the  milk 
being  sold  at  six  cents  a  quart,  more  than  paid  expenses, 
leaving  a  large  quantity  of  manure,  increased  in  amount 
by  liberal  additions  of  swamp  muck,  to  go  upon  the  land. 
The  surplus  earnings  were  spent  in  procuring  pure  bred 
Jersey  and  Ayrshire  stock,  and  the  business  was  changed 
to  the  making  of  butter  instead  of  selling  the  milk, 
which  provided  means  for  rearing  valuable  calves.  All 
this  work  was  a  labor  of  love,  and  gave  excellent  facilities 
for  the  study  of  dairying,  and  a  great  many  experiments, 
numerous  investigations — chemical  and  microscopical — 
into  the  nature  and  behavior  under  varied  circumstances 
of  milk,  butter  and  cheese,  and  observations  were  made 
upon  the  habits  and  disposition  of  the  cows  and  calves, 
and  the  values  of  feeding  stuffs  used,  all  being  taken 
from  the  practical  standpoint  of  the  actual  work  in  the 
dairy. 

That  a  farm  of  this  uninviting  kind  could  be  used  for 
a  dairy  farm,  and  brought  up  to  a  fair  degree  of  fertil- 
ity in  a  few  years,  will  serve  as  a  reply  to  numberless 
inquiries  constantly  being  made  as  to  the  possibility  of 
doing  this — making  the  dairy  pay  expenses  from  the  first, 
though  all  the  food  and  most  of  the  fodder  be  pur- 
chased. The  fact  shown  is  quite  pertinent  to  the  subject 
of  this  chapter,  although  it  may  seem  to  be  somewhat  of 
a  digression  from  it,  as  tending  to  prove  that  a  person 
with  some  experience,  and  of  a  cautious,  patient,  perse- 
vering and  economical  disposition,  may  have  an  exceed- 
ingly wide  choice  in  the  selection  of  a  dairy  farm,  so 
long  as  it  may  have  fitness  in  some  respect  for  the  pur- 
pose designed.  For  a  novice,  however,  a  choice  of  this 
kind  would  almost  certainly  be  disastrous,  unless  he  felt 
that  he  was  all  that  a  dairyman  should  be,  and  con- 
formed fully  in  this  respect  to  the  qualifications  described 
in  the  previous  chapter;  and,  moreover,  unless  he  began 
in  a  small  way,  feeling  his  path  as  he  went  along,  and 


24 

learned  as  he  went  to  profit  by  any  probable  mistakes  he 
might  make. 

In  concluding  these  remarks  upon  the  choice  of  a 
farm  for  the  purpose  of  dairying,  some  especial  reference 
'  should  be  made  to  a  greatly  neglected  portion  of  the 
country,  which  offers  unusual  facilities  for  enterprise  in 
this  direction.  This  is  that  region,  blessed  with  a  most 
favorable  climate  and  abundance  of  cheap  land,  in  the 
midst  of  good  markets  for  the  produce,  commonly  called 
*'the  South."  From  Virginia  southward  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  stretches  a  country  which  has  been  for  a  century 
given  up  to  the  exhaustive  culture  of  tobacco  and  cotton, 
and  which  has  procured  its  principal  food  supplies,  and 
all  its  butter  and  cheese,  from  the  North  and  West. 
Yet  no  other  part  of  the  United  States  is  better  adapted 
for  the  growth  of  feeding  crops,  and  for  the  keeping  of 
cows  for  dairy  purposes;  while  its  mild  winter  climate 
renders  it  most  especially  fitted  for  winter  dairying  and 
the  production  of  fine  butter  at  a  season  when  the 
northern  part  of  the  country  is  buried  under  snow  or 
frozen  solid  with  the  intense  cold.  In  the  very  center  of 
the  Southern  States  is  the  southern  mountain  region, 
where  the  excessive  heat  of  the  South  in  the  summer 
and  the  intense  cold  and  the  snows  of'  the  North  are 
both  unknown.  It  is  an  elevated,  undulating  plateau 
averaging  in  hight  2,500  feet  above  sea  level,  and  in 
some  localities  reaching  3^700  feet  to  the  base  of  the  still 
higher  mountains  which  rear  their  tops  from  5,000  to 
6,500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  whole  region 
produces  all  the  grasses,  corn,  wheat,  clover,  roots,  and 
every  kind  of  fodder  crop,  to  perfection.  It  is  abun- 
dantly watered  with  innumerable  streams  and  springs  of 
the  purest  water  ;  the  air  is  pure  ;  mosquitoes  and  other 
noxious  insects  are  unknown.  Cattle  can  find  subsist- 
ence m  the  forest  ranges  the  whole  year,  thus  affording 
a  specially  favorable  climate  for  open  pasturage  during 


AT    r>   c^^ 


Library 


DAIKY  FAEMS.  ^5 

the  winter,  when  the  cultivated  grasses  are  grown  for 
feeding  dairy  cows.  The  highest  temperature  of  the 
summer  rarely  reaches  eighty  degrees,  and  then  only  for 
a  few  hours  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  while  the  nights 
are  always  cool;  the  lowest  temperature  of  winter  is  from 
ten  above  to  eight  degrees  below  zero,  and  this  occurs  only 
very  rarely  at  night  and  during  a  few  hours,  for  at 
noon  following  the  warm  sun  will  melt  the  snow  and  ice 
formed  in  the  night,  and  make  the  air  agreeably  warm. 
Snow  rarely  lies  on  the  ground  more  than  three  or  four 
days,  and  an  exceptional  fall  of  snow  may  be  three  or 
four  inches  deep,  and  will  begin  to  melt  off  as  soon  as 
the  clouds  clear  away.  Everything  invites  the  dairyman 
to  this  pleasant  and  healthful  locality.  Cheap  land,  rich 
soil,  natural  herbage,  a  most  favorable  climate,  and  a 
central  position  as  regards  all  the  large  cities  and  towns, 
and  the  cotton  fields,  in  the  Southern  States,  to  which  the 
supply  of  butter  and  cheese  is  brought  from  the  Northern 
markets.  Florida,  with  its  large  floating  winter  popu- 
lation, is  twenty-four  hours  only  from  the  region,  and 
affords  a  most  profitable  market  for  fine  butter,  an 
article  unknown  in  the  Southern  cities,  excepting  as  a 
few  pioneer  dairymen  in  the  mountain  country  are  be- 
ginning to  supply  the  active  demand  for  it,  and  the 
market  is  practically  unlimited. 

A  few  words  of  encouragement  might  also  be  given  to 
the  family  dairy,  w^iere  one  cow  is  kept  for  the  domestic 
supply  of  milk  and  butter.  In  such  a  case  the  farm  may 
be  a  plot  of  one  acre  or  more  in  the  suburbs  of  a  large 
city,  or  town,  or  village  ;  and  the  pleasure  and  profit 
of  having  such  a  small  dairy  farm  tempts  thousands  of 
people  from  the  close  streets  of  a  city  to  the  broader  and 
sweeter  lanes  of  the  suburban  vicinity.  This  work  is 
intended  to  meet  the  wants  and  desires  of  this  large  class 
of  dairies,  and  to  encourage  more  of  them,  by  showing 
how  the  work  is  to  be  managed,  and  also  how  a  cow  may 


26  tHE   DAIRYMAN^S   MANUAL. 

be  kept  with  profit  upon  an  acre  of  land  under  cultiva- 
tion, and  the  clippiugs  of  a  lawD,  with  the  aid  of  the 
surplus  vegetables  from  the  garden.  This  is  entirely 
possible,  and  it  has  been  done  for  several  years  by  the 
author  at  his  residence,  a  few  miles  distant  from  hi.^ 
farm,  where  a  family  cow,  chosen  from  the  herd  for  its 
docility  and  productiveness,  has  been  kept  to  supply  the 
needs  of  the  family.  And  in  choosing  a  rural  residence 
the  prospective  owner  should  be  careful  to  consider  the 
possibilities  of  his  little  farm  for  this  desirable  purpose. 


CHAPTER    III. 
COWS  FOR  THE  DAIRY. 

Oi?"E  notable  source  of  ill-success  in  dairying  is  infe- 
rior cows.  It  is  said  that  even  in  the  oldest  and  best 
dairy  districts  of  New  York,  one-third  of  the  dairy  stock 
will  not  more  than  pay  the  cost  of  its  keep.  This  is  not 
to  the  credit  of  good  dairymen,  and  shows  they  do  not 
give  proper  attention  to  their  account  of  profit  and  loss. 
Poor  milk-yielding  cows  are  ''a  crying  evil,"  and  the 
annual  loss  from  this  cause  keeps  many  dairymen  in 
straitened  circumstances  ;  and  so  long  as  they  persist 
in  retaining  this  kind  of  stock  there  is  for  them  but  little 
hope  of  bettering  their  fortunes  in  the  dairy. 

Inferior  milkers  are  not  wholly  confined  to  the  scrubs 
and  common  cows  of  the  country,  for  they  are  found 
among  all  breeds  of  thoroughbred  stock.  Prof.  Roberts, 
in  a  recent  address  at  a  dairy  convention,  affirmed  that 
much  of  the  thoroughbred  stock  of  the  country  is  a  posi- 
tive damage  in  the  dairy.  AVeak  in  constitution,  with 
the  milking  habit  bred  out,  they  transmit  these  charac- 
teristics to  their  progeny,  and  thus  become  the  source  of 
infinite  mischief  and  loss  to  the  dairyman  who  is  trying 


cows  FOR  THE  DAIrY. 


27 


28  THE  dairyman's  MAKTTAL. 

to  improve  his  herd  by  introducing  pedigree  blood. 
Every  inferior  cow  when  found  out,  he  said,  should  have 
its  head  cut  off,  and  not  be  turned  away  indiscriminately 
to  cheat  and  cause  loss  to  other  dairymen.  No  matter 
how  renowned  its  pedigree,  let  it  go  to  the  shambles  or 
to  the  beef  producer,  but  not  to  the  dairyman.  Harris 
Lewis  facetiously  urged  at  the  same  convention,  that  any 
dairyman  having  a  poor  milker  would  make  money  by 
giving  her  away,  and  if  he  had  scruples  in  this  regard, 
"he  might  make  a  present  of  the  beast  to  his  mother-in- 
law." 

^ome  years  ago  one  of  the  best  dairymen  in  Herkimer 
County,  New  York,  desiring  to  ascertain  the  profit  he 
was  realizing  from  difierent  cows  in  his  herd,  instituted  a 
series  of  tests.  He  had  found  from  actual  experiment 
that  the  average  cost  of  keeping  his  dairy  stock  through 
the  year  was  at  the  rate  of  thirty-five  dollars  per  head, 
and  this  sum  was  embraced  under  the  following  items: 

Two  and  a  half  tons  of  hay  at  eight  dollars  per  ton. .820  00 

Pasturage  during  the  season 7  50 

Two  hundred  pounds  ground  feed  in  spring 8  00 

Interest  on  cost  of  cow  at  forty -five  dollars,  and  de- 
preciation, ten  per  cent 4  50 

Making,  per  cow,  a  total  of $35  00 

Now  selecting  five  of  his  best  cows  and  five  of  his 
poorest  cows,  and  measuring  the  quantity  of  milk  on  cer- 
tain days  of  the  mouth  during  the  season,  he  found  that 
the  five  best  cows  yielded  five  hundred  and  fifty-four  gal- 
lons of  milk  each,  which  realized,  in  butter  and  cheese 
sold  at  market  rates,  an  average  for  the  season  of  eleven 
and  a  half  cents  per  gallon,  or  a  total  of  sixty-three  dollars 
and  eleven  cents  per  cow.  This  gave  him,  after  deduct- 
ing cost  of  keep,  twenty-eight  dollars  and  seventy-one 
cents  per  cow,  clear  profit. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  five  poorest  cows  yielded  onU 


cows   FOR  THE   DAIRY.  29 

two  hundred  and  forty-three  gallons  of  milk  each,  which 
at  eleven  and  a  half  cents  per  gallon  amounted  to  twenty- 
seven  dollars  and  ninety-hve  cents  each,  or  seven  dollars 
and  six  cents  less  than  the  cost  of  keep.  As  a  result  of 
this  test,  it  is  needless  to  say  the  poor  cows  were  not  kept 
over  the  second  season.  If  this  result  was  obtained  hy 
one  of  the  best  dairymen,  what  could  be  expected  from 
the  herd  of  the  average  dairyman  ? 

There  are  cheese  dairymen  who  are  keeping  dairies 
averaging  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  cows,  who  obtain, 
one  year  with  another,  a  yield  of  six  hundred  pounds  of 
cheese  per  cow  and  often  more,  while  other  dairies  in  the 
vicinity  do  not  get  a  yield  of  much  more  than  half  that 
amount  per  cow.  It  must  be  evident  that  herds  like  the 
latter  are  not  rapidly  bettering  the  fortunes  of  their  own- 
ers. And  yet  this  thing  goes  on  from  year  to  year  with- 
out the  proper  effort  to  get  out  of  the  rut. 

The  statistics  of  the  cheese  factories  in  the  State  of 
New  York -show  many  inferior  herds  that  do  not  yield 
on  an  average  much  above  three  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds  of  milk  per  head  during  the  year,  whereas  the 
average  should  be  at  least  five  thousand  pounds.  The 
milk  of  every  cow  should  be  tested  as  to  quantity  and 
quality,  and  inferior  cows  discarded.  It  is  better  to  pay 
a  good  round  price  for  a  superior  milker  than  to  take  a 
poor  one  at  any  price,  since  the  cost  of  keep  on  the  latter 
will  most  likely  insure  loss.  There  are  instruments  which 
will  determine  quickly  and  easily  the  percentage  of  butter 
in  any  sample  of  milk,  and  with  sufficient  accuracy  for 
all  practical  purposes,  so  that  by  weighing  the  milk,  from 
time  to  time,  the  real  value  of  a  cow  as  a  milk  producer 
may  be  known  ;  and  such  tests  are  imperative  if  the  best 
results  in  dairying  are  to  be  obtained. 

Dairymen  should  breed  their  own  stock  as  the  surest 
way  to  get  superior  milkers  at  moderate  cost ;  but  in 
breeding  dairy  stock  care  should  be  taken  that  calves  be 


30  THE  dairyman's  MANUAL. 

raised  only  from  deep  milkers,  and  it  is  quite  as  important 
that  the  sire  should  be  of  a  deep  milking  family  as  the 
dam. 

The  choice  of  stock  is  so  large  that  there  is  danger  of 
the  dairyman  being  bewildered  in  the  great  variety,  and 
of  finding  difficulty  in  making  a  selection  of  any  one  pure 
breed  for  the  improvement  of  his  herd. 

The  Native  Cow — so  called — is  necessarily  the  basis 
upon  which  the  dairyman  must  form  his  herd,  and  for- 
tunately this  stock  is  good  enough,  not  only  for  the 
purpose  of  being  crossed  by  pure  bred  bulls  of  different 
breeds  for  special  uses,  but  for  careful  selection  and  im- 
provement within  itself.  It  has,  since  the  first  settle- 
ment of  America,  been  reared  from  imported  cows,  which, 
there  is  reason  to  believe,  were  the  best  of  their  kind, 
and  the  progeny  of  these  have  been  crossed  again  and 
again  with  bulls  of  every  kind,  until  the  native  cow  has  a 
mixed  blood  the  origin  of  which  is  impossible  to  distin- 
guish. The  preponderance  of  blood  is  clearly  the  Short- 
horn, or,  as  it  was  formerly  called,  the  Durham,  which  was 
imported  systematically  seventy  years  ago,  and  has  been 
largely  intermixed  with  the  native  stock  in  many  localities, 
chiefly  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio. 
In  New  England  the  preponderance  of  blood  is  Devon 
and  Ayrshire,  these  lighter  cattle  being  better  fitted  for 
the  rougher  and  less  luxuriant  pastures  of  the  East. 
These  three  breeds  seem  to  be  chiefly  mingled  in  the 
native  stock,  and  if  a  most  careful  selection  had  been 
made,  with  a  set  purpose  to  get  useful  cows,  no  better 
choice  could  have  been  made.  Occasionally  may  be  seen 
the  white  face  and  brick-red  color  of  the  Hereford,  and 
more  recently  the  Jersey  and  the  North  Holland  (or,  as 
it  is  now  called,  Holstein-Friesian)  breeds  have  become 
largely  intermixed  with  the  native  stock.  But  it  is  wrong 
to  suppose  that  a  mixture  of  many  excellent  breeds  will 
produce  a  race  of  cattle  combining  all  the  good  qualities 


cows  FOB  THE   DAIRY, 


31 


/ 


32  THE   dairyman's  MANUAL. 


of  the  progenitors.  Unfortunately,  the  contrary  is  the 
case,  and  all  the  bad  qualities  are  more  likely  to  be  per- 
petuated. Trying  to  improve  the  native  race  within 
itself  is  usually  unsatisfactory  and  a  slow  process,  the 
better  way  being  to  select  the  best  of  the  cows  and  cross 
them  with  a  well-chosen  pure  bred  bull  of  a  suitable 
kind,  either  for  milk,  cheese,  or  butter.  It  is  a  matter 
of  considerable  importance  for  the  dairyman  to  select 
the  right  breed  for  his  purpose. 

The  Shorthorn  Breed  is,  perhaps,  the  most  valu- 
able of  all  those  used  in  dairying.  If  there  is  any  one 
breed  which  may  claim  to  be  the  most  suitable  for  gen- 
eral purposes,  as  for  milk,  cheese  and  butter,  and  beef, 
w^hen  no  longer  profitable  for  these,  it  is  the  Shorthorn. 
Half-bred  or  grade  Shorthorn  cows  are  more  largely 
kept  for  milk  dairies  and  for  cheese  making  than  any 
others,  because  they  are  good  milkers  and  fatten  quickly 
when  dry,  and  then  make  good  beeves,  usually  bringing 
for  slaughter  as  much  as,  or  more  than,  the  original  cost. 
This  breed  originated  in  the  north  of  England  about 
one  hundred  years  ago,  and  was  then  noted  for  the  excel- 
lence of  its  cows ;  the  best  of  them  producing  as  much 
as  twenty-four  pounds  of  butter  per  week  and  forty 
quarts  of  milk  daily.  It  is  claimed  that  the  breed  came 
first  from  Denmark,  Holland,  and  the  north  of  France, 
where  it  laid  the  foundation  of  the  highly  productive 
herds  of  various  races  in  those  localities.  At  the  present 
time,  however,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  families 
noted  for  productiveness  of  milk  and  butter,  this  breed 
has  greatly  deteriorated  in  this  respect,  having  been  bred 
for  beef,  and  the  milking  character  having  been  neg- 
lected. The  engraving,  figure  2,  gives  an  excellent 
and  accurate  portrait  of  a  cow  of  this  breed,  which 
won  the  champion  prize  for  the  best  yield  of  milk 
two  years  in  succession  at  the  English  Dairy  Farmers' 
Association.     She  is  not  sufficiently  pure  bred  for  entry 


cows   FOR  THE   DAIRY.  33 

in  the  Herd-book,  but  shows  very  well  the  special  pecu- 
liarities of  form  of  the  pure  Shorthorn  in  its  best  condi- 
tion as  a  dairy  animal.  Her  product  at  the  exhibition 
was  fifty-one  pounds  and  twelve  ounces  of  milk,  which 
contained  3.26  per  cent  of  fat,  equal  to  a  product  of 
about  one  pound  and  twelve  ounces  of  butter  daily. 

The  Ayrshire  Breed  deserves  the  next  j)lace  as 
a  valuable  dairy  cow,  not  because  it  is  the  largest  milker, 
but  is  a  very  profitable  cow  for  both  milk  and  butter, 
and  is  adapted  to  a  large  range  of  locality  and  varying 
circumstances.  This  breed  originated  in  the  southwest 
part  of  Scotland,  in  the  rich  vale  of  Ayr,  and  has  a  large 
infusion  of  the  same  European  blood  in  it  which  was 
bred  into  the  Shorthorns.  It  dates  back  for  more  than 
a  century,  and  is  the  basis  upon  which  the  noted 
dairy  business  of  Ayrshire,  or  the  Dunlop  district,  famous 
for  its  excellent  cheese  and  butter,  has  been  built 
during  a  hundred  years.  It  has  been  greatly  improved 
by  careful  selection,  and  is  now  a  model  dairy  cow. 
Without  depreciating  any  other  breed  of  cows,  she  may 
easily  take  this  position.  She  will  not  displace  the 
Jersey  in  the  fine  butter  dairy,  nor  the  Dutch  cow  in  the 
milk  dairy ;  but  she  will  fill  the  place  of  both  of  these 
in  the  cheese  dairy,  and  while  she  will  not  compare  with 
the  latter  in  amount  of  milk  product,  she  will  greatly 
surpass  the  former.  She. is  tli.e  farmer's  cow.  Her  milk 
makes  a  superior  cheese,  and,  being  rich  in  cream,  it  can 
easily  be  turned  to  profitable  butter  production.  Her 
average  milk  product  will  amount  to  at  least  5,000 
pounds  a  year,  and  some  of  the  best  cows  will  yield 
from  6,000  to  8,000  pounds  between  two  calvings.  She 
is  easily  kept ;  she  is  a  good  and  hearty  feeder ;  she  is 
remarkably  hardy  ;  her  coat  is  thick  and  close  and  warm 
enough  to  resist  exposure  to  the  most  severe  winter 
storms,  and  it  can  sustain  the  great  heats  of  even  the 
West  Indies  without  discomfort.     One  of  her  good  points 


34  THE   dairyman's  MA^^UAL. 

is  that  sKe  holds  on  to  her  milk  production  nearly 
up  to  the  time  of  again  calving,  and  although  a  cow  may 
not  be  an  excessively  large  milker  in  her  first  freshness, 
yet  by  a  long-continued  and  well-sustained  product  the 
total  average  is  eminently  satisfactory  to  the  owner.  An 
example  of  this  may  be  given  iu  the  cow  Bolivia  (in  the 
herd  of  the  author),  a  typical  x\yrshire  cow.  The  fol- 
lowing figures,  taken  from  the  record  of  her  milking 
with  her  first  calf,  dropped  when  tlie  dam  was  less  than 
two  years  of  age,  give  the  daily  product  for  the  first,  the 
fifteenth,  and  the  last  day  of  each  month  in  a  year,  during 
which  her  whole  product  was  a  little  more  than  3,000 
quarts : — 

1st.  15tb.  30th. 

1879.                                                lbs.  lbs.  lbs. 

March 33  81  30 

Apiil -- - 31  M  33 

May - 29i  3U  30i 

June.--- - 30i  30i  32i 

July -  31  29i  29i 

August. 29  28  264 

September 26  24  21 

October 21  20i  19i 

November 18  18  20i 

December - 2U  20  19i 

1880. 

January 20  19  19 

February - 18  18?  IT^ 


Her  second  calf  was  dropped  in  April,  1880,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  feed  dry  hay  only,  in  very  limited 
quantity,  to  dry  her  off  before  she  began  to  spring  again. 

The  Ayrshire  makes  a  very  good  cross  upon  any  breed. 
With  the  native  cow,  the  produce  is  nearly  equal  to  and 
sometimes  surpasses,  in  productive  value,  the  pure  breed; 
with  the  Shorthorn,  the  cross  hfis  made  some  noted 
cows,  one  especially  having  a  record  of  one  hundred 
pounds  of  milk  in  one  day.     The  Ayrshire- Jersey  cross 


cows   FOE  THE   DAIET. 


35 


36  THE  dairymaid's  MANUAL. 

makes  a  most  yalnable  family  cow,  and  has  been  bred  for 
tliis  purpose  for  many  years  ;  one  in  the  author's  dairy 
has  given  twelve  pounds  of  butter  weekly  regularly  for 
twenty-two  weeks  after  calving,  and  then  gradually  de- 
creased, until  her  product  in  the  year  was  nearly  four 
hundred  pounds.  Several  cows  of  this  cross  have  given 
two  pounds  a  day  through  the  summer  season,  and  have 
continued  productive  until  within  a  few  weeks  of  their 
next  calving. 

The  North  IIollaxd— Holstein,  Friesian,  Dutch, 
and  now  called  Holstein-Friesian  as  a  compromise  among 
the  breeders — is  the  largest  milker  existing,  whole  herds 
having  made  a  record  of  more  than  eighteen  thousand 
pounds  of  milk  in  a  year.  These  cattle  are  brought 
from  Northern  Holland,  where  they  have  been  bred  for 
dairy  use  during  many  years,  and  where  the  pastures  are 
unsurpassed  for  luxuriance.  A  large  number  of  these 
cattle  have  been  imported  of  late  years  into  the 
United  States,  and  have  become  very  popular.  They 
are  black  and  white  in  color,  of  large  size,  handsome 
form,  with  deep,  capacious  udders  ;  but,  as  may  be  easily 
supposed,  require  very  liberal  feeding  to  enable  them 
to  make  the  large  yield  of  milk  and  butter  which  many 
have  done.  The  owners  of  herds  of  these  cattle  claim 
that  they  are  superior  to  any  other  breed  in  regard  to 
the  product  of  milk  and  butter  from  an  equivalent  of 
food;  but  as  the  friends  of  every  other  breed  make  tlie 
same  claim,  it  is  not  necessary  to  burden  these  pages  with 
the  mass  of  figures  which  have  been  published  to  show 
the  remarkably  large  yields  of  some  of  these  cows.  For 
the  milk  dairy  they  are  certainly  unsurpassed  in  point  of 
yield  ;  and  they  are  rapidly  becoming  popular  for  cheese 
and  butter  dairying.  Not  a  small  advantage  of  this  breed 
is  that  it  is  of  very  large  size,  equaling  the  Shorthorn 
in  this  respect,  and  takes  on  flesh  and  fat  easily,  so  that 
the  steers  make  good  beef,  and  the  cows  may  be  turned 


cows   FOR  THE   DAIRY.  37 

off  to  beef  without  loss.  This  use,  however,  seems  at 
present  quite -distant,  for  the  high  price  of  the  stock  and 
its  scarcity  forbids  it,  and  will  do  so  for  many  years  to 
come. 

The  Jersey  Breed  has  taken  the  most  prominent 
position  in  the  dairy  during  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years. 
Previously  it  was  the  fashionable  cow  of  the  rich  amateur 
farmer  who  could  afford  to  pay  huDdreds  of  dollars  for 
one  of  these  elegant  animals  as  an  ornament  to  his  lawn 
and  well  kept  pasture,  and  for  the  supply  of  cream  and 
butter  for  his  domestic  use.  Gradually  it  became  the 
fashion  for  these  wealthy  persons  to  establish  fancy  dai- 
ries, and  to  make  the  choicest  quality  of  butter,  which 
was  put  up  in  attractive  forms,  for  sale  to  consumers  who 
could  well  afford  to  pay  a  dollar  per  pound  for  a  product 
which  was  certainly  known  to  be  clean,  pure,  and  of  the 
most  perfect  flavor  and  appearance.  It  was  a  new  depart- 
ure in  dairying,  and  has  had  a  most  beneficial  influence 
in  compelling  the  makers  of  butter  to  follow  the  example 
set  in  this  way,  or  in  inducing  them  to  do  so,  in  the  hope 
of  securing  higher  prices  for  their  product.  A  wholly 
new  business,  commonly  known  as  fancy  butter  making, 
has  sprung  up,  and  this  has  led  to  the  extensive  intro- 
duction of  winter  dairying  and  a  large  variety  of  im- 
proved apparatus.  It  is  a  new  instance  of  the  improve- 
ment in  agricultural  methods  which  has  been  brouglit 
about  by  the  use  of  improved  stock;  and  just  as  the  Ayr- 
shire breed  in  Scotland,  or  the  Dutch  breed  in  Holland, 
induced  a  remarkable  change  for  the  better  in  the  past- 
ures and  in  the  culture  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  in  the  farm 
buildings — and  by  reflection,  as  it  were,  in  the  farmers 
themselves — so  the  Jersey  cow  has  revolutionized  the  but- 
ter dairy,  and  has  improved  it  more  in  the  past  ten  years 
than  every  other  influence  had  done  from  the  beginning 
up  to  that  time. 

The  Jersey  cow,  sometimes  wrongly  called  Alderney, 


38 

is  native  to  the  island  of  Jersey,  the  largest  of  the  gronp 
known  as  the  Channel  Islands,  which  are  situated  near 
the  coast  of  France,  in  the  English  Channel.  These 
islands  are  Jersey,  Guernsey,  Alderney,  and  Sark ;  the 
last  two  being  mere  islets.  The  three  first  mentioned  are 
each  noted  for  a  special  breed  of  cattle,  much  alike  in 
character,  but  yet  sufficiently  different  to  be  distinct  ; 
the  chief  characteristic  in  all  of  tliem  being  remarkable 
elegance  in  form  and  color,  and  exceeding  richness  of  the 
milk. 

Tlie  island  of  Jersey,  with  a  total  area  of  about  three 
hundred  square  miles,  contains  more  cows  than  any 
other  equally  small  part  of  the  earth ;  and  they  are 
more  highly  valued  than  those  of  any  other  breed,  averag- 
ing probably  $300  or  $400  each.  So  many  have  been  im- 
ported into  the  United  States  that  there  are  moi-e  cows 
of  the  breed  here  now  than  there  are  in  Jersey — viz., 
about  10, 000 — while  the  half-breds  or  grades,  which  are 
almost  as  valuable  as  the  pure  breed,  number  perhaps 
100,000  or  more;  at  least  they  are  so  numerous  as  to  be 
seen  on  almost  every  well -managed  butter  dairy  farm 
in  the  special  dairy  districts. 

Several  State  herd  records  are  in  process  of  establish- 
ment for  the  pure  bred  Jersey  cattle,  because  the  Ameri- 
can Jersey  herd  book  is  too  cumbrous  for  convenience, 
from  the  large  number  of  entries  which  have  been  rnade 
in  it.  No  other  cows  in  existence  have  been  so  highly 
cherished  and  cultivated  as  the  Jerseys,  and  some  of  them 
have  made  the  most  extraordinary  records  as  butter  pro- 
ducers. The  highest  authorized  record  is  that  of  Prin- 
cess 2d,  owned  by  Mr.  Shoemaker,  of  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land ;  viz.,  forty-nine  pounds  of  butter  in  seven  days. 
Several  cows  are  known  to  have  produced  from  thirty 
pounds  in  a  week  down  to  twenty-four,  twenty,  eighteen, 
and  sixteen  pounds,  and  there  are  over  a  hundred  cows 
which  have  a  certified  record  of  fourteen  pounds  weekly. 


OOWS  FOE  THE  DAIRY. 


39 


40  THE  DAIEYMAN*S  MANUAL. 

The  cow  Nellie,  bred  by  the  author,  made  G25  pounds  of 
butter  in  twenty  months  between  two  calves,  and  from 
her  first  calf  on  December  27,  1879,  to  the  end  of  her 
third  milking  season  in  December,  1883 — that  is,  in  ex- 
actly four  years — she  produced  1,619  pounds  of  butter, 
which  was  all  sold  at  an  average  of  fifty  cents  per  pound, 
yielding  the  sum  of  $821.50  in  tlie  four  years,  besides 
rearing  two  heifer  calves.  Some  remarks  have  been 
made  derogatory  to  the  high  prices  asked  and  paid  for 
Jersey  cows.  This  instance  of  the  actual  intrinsic  value 
of  a  cow  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  example  of  what  a  cow  of 
this  kind  ought  to  be  worth  simply  for  the  money  value 
of  her  product.  Any  dairyman  could  well  afford  to  pay 
$500  for  such  a  cow,  for  her  butter- making  worth, 
leaving  the  value  of  her  calves  out  of  the  question.  For 
the  private  dairy,  where  one  cow  is  kept  for  the  family 
supply  of  milk,  cream,  and  butter,  this  fact  is  also  worth 
thinking  of,  in  case  the  owner  has  ample  means  for  pro- 
curing the  best  animal  for  his  purpose.  The  considera- 
tion is  worthy  of  notice  also  by  farmers  who  are  inter- 
ested in  improving  their  dairy  stock ;  for  a  good  bull  is 
worth  as  much  more  than  a  good  cow,  as  the  calves  got  by 
a  bull  are  more  numerous  than  the  one  calf  of  a  cow  in 
any  one  year.  This  remark  is  not  applied  solely  to  the 
Jersey  breed,  but  to  whatever  breed  may  be  supposed  by 
a  dairyman  to  be  the  best  for  his  i3urpose. 

The  Jersey  cattle  are  of  medium  size,  very  graceful  in 
figure,  having  slender  limbs,  a  thin  neck,  a  fine  head 
with  broad  forehead,  dished  face,  large  black  eyes,  a 
gentle  expression,  and  fine,  small,  curved  horns,  usually 
bkck  in  color,  setting  forward  over  the  forehead.  The 
fore-quarters  are  light,  the  abdomen  deep  and  large,  the 
hind-quarters  large,  the  back  broad,  the  thighs  thin  and 
set  well  apart,  giving  room  for  a  broad  udder,  which  has 
a  loose  skin  hanging  far  up  behind  and  giving  great 
capacity  for  holding  milk  ;  the  milk  vein  is  large  and 


COV^'S   FOE  THE   DAIRY.  41 

spreads  well  at  its  entrance  into  the  front  of  the  udder ; 
the  teats  are  usually  large,  and  well  and  squarely  placed 
on  the  udder  ;  the  tail  is  long  and  slender,  and  the  whole 
form  partakes  of  a  wedge  shape,  and  is  well  balanced  and 
pleasing.  This  description  may  be  taken  as  applying 
to  any  good  cow,  and  when  a  yellow  skin,  fine  coat,  yel- 
low ears,  and  a  mellow  soft  feeling  under  the  skin  are 
added,  the  whole  indicate  a  cow  which  may  be  expected 
to  excel  both  for  milk  and  butter. 

The  color  of  the  Jerseys  varies  from  a  light  fawn 
mixed  with  white  iu  patches,  to  a  darker  yellowish  fawn 
or  a  mouse  color,  With  a  black  muzzle  and  an  orange 
colored  ring  around  it.  The  tongue  is  also  black  in 
many  of  them.  AVhen  this  is  the  case  the  eyes,  horns, 
switch  and  hoofs  are  also  black,  making,  with  the  tongue 
and  muzzle,  the  ^^full  black  points,"  which  are  consid- 
ered by  some  Jersey  breeders  the  sine  qua  non  of  an  ex- 
cellent animal  of  this  breed.  The  dairyman,  or  the 
owner  of  a  family  cow,  will  scarcely  give  much  weight 
to  these  points  except  for  appearance, .  and  then  only 
when  accompanied  by  the  best  milking  character. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  escutcheon  as  being  an 
indication  of  superior  quality  in  cows.  This  may  be 
considered  as  a  fancy  more  than  a  reality,  except  when 
it  accompanies  the  hereditary  marks  which  are  trans- 
mitted from  a  cow  or  a  bull  to  its  calves,  and  is  accom- 
panied by  all  the  other  inherited  good  qualities.  A  good 
cow,  or  a  bull  which  is  known  to  have  sired  good  cows, 
which  has  a  well-shaped  escutcheon  and  transmits  it  to 
tlie  calves,  may  be  expected,  along  with  it,  to  transmit  to 
the  progeny  all  the  other  good  qualities.  It  is  not  safe 
to  go  further  than  this  and  depend  wholly  upon  the  es- 
cutcheon alone,  as  some  have  done,  and  do,  for  a  certifi- 
cate of  good  character.  The  escutcheon  is  simply  a  re- 
versed growth  of  the  hair  from  the  udder  and  inside 
of   the-  thighs   up   to    the  rump  ;    and   sometimes  this 


42 

growth  takes  the  form  of  curves  and  curls,  where  it 
meets  the  usual  position  of  the  hair.  It  is  difficult  to 
believe  from  any  physiological  connection  that  this 
growth  of  hair  has  any  direct  influence  upon  the  milking 
quality,  or  this  upon  that,  so  as  to  be  considered  in  any 
light  further  than  as  has  been  above  suggested. 

The  GuERisrsEY  Cattle  differ  from  the  Jerseys  chiefly 
in  their  color,  which  is  dark  yellow  verging  to  red,  and 
their  figure,  which  is  coarser  than  that  of  the  Jerseys. 
They  are  usually  larger  milkers  and  on  the  average  more 
productive  of  butter  than  the  Jerseys.  They  do  not, 
however,  possess  any  special  qualities  wiiich  make 
them  more  valuable  in  the  dairy  than  the  Jerseys,  and 
there  are  comparatively  few  of  them  in  America.  For 
the  family  dairy,  however,  a  Guernsey  cow  is  doubtless 
the  very  best  animal  to  be  procured. 

The  Alderxey  is  a  smaller  animal  than  the  Jersey, 
and  is  not  at  all  suited  for  the  business  dairy.  They  are 
fawn-like  in  their  build,  and  fawn  and  w^hitein  color,  and 
are  small  but  very  rich  milkers.  They  are  a  distinct  race 
and  are  sometimes  confounded  with  the  Jerseys,  which 
are  called  Alderneys,  but  wrongly  and  unreasonably  so. 
But  for  this  confusion  of  names  this  breed,  of  which 
but  few  are  in  America,  would  not  be  worth  notice  here. 

The  last  three  breeds  mentioned,  viz.,  the  Jersey, 
Guernsey  and  Alderney,  are  natives  of  the  group  of  small 
islands  on  the  coast  of  France,  but  belonging  to  Great 
Britain,  which  have  been  previously  referred  to.  These 
islands  enjoy  a  remarkably  even  and  jjleasant  climate, 
and  a  rich  soil  which  is  exceedingly  well  cultivated. 
The  farms  are  very  small,  mere  garden  plots  for  the  most 
part,  and  there  are  few  pastures,  properly  speaking. 
The  cows  are  tethered  in  the  small  fields,  and  are  ac- 
customed to  strict  discipline  and  familiarity  with  their 
owners.  Hence  their  disposition  is  naturally  gentle  and 
docile,  and  no  other  dairy  coavs  are  so  easily  reared  and 


cows  FOR  THE   DAIRY. 


43 


,,,4 


44  THE  dairyman's  makual. 

handled,  more  desirable  for  the  private  dairy,  or  the 
business  dairy  when  butter  is  the  object  desired. 

The  Dutch  Belted  or  Blanketed  Cattle  are  na- 
tives of  Holland,  having  the  black  and  white  colors  of 
the  so  called  Holstein-Friesian  breed,  but  curiously  dis- 
posed, so  that  the  white  is  distributed,  not  in  patches, 
but  in  a  broad  belt  around  the  middle  of  the  body.  These 
cows  have  been  carefully  bred  by  the  wealthier  Dutch 
people  for  more  than  a  century.  They  have  been  kept  in 
the  Orange  County,  New  York,  dairies  many  years,  where 
they  have  acquired  a  high  local  reputation  as  profitable 
cows  for  milk  and  for  butter.  They  are  also  kept  in 
considerable  herds  in  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
are  sufficiently  numerous  to  have  required  a  herd  book 
for  recording  their  pedigrees.  These  cattle  are  smaller 
than  the  largest  North  Holland  (Holstein-Friesian),  con- 
sume less  food,  and  are  more  suitable  for  the  average 
dairy  farm  where  the  pastures  are  not  rich  or  luxuriant 
enough  to  support  the  larger  and  rnore  exacting  breed. 
But  this  smaller  cow  is  considered  as  very  desirable, 
where  milk  for  sale  is  the  point  aimed  at. 

The  Swiss  Cattle  are  noted  for  the  dairy  as  good 
producers  of  milk,  butter,  and  cheese.  Switzerland  is 
essentially  a  dairy  country,  and  its  pastures  are  of  the 
greenest  and  the  richest.  Consequently  its  cows  have 
been  bred  and  cherished  for  many  years  with  the  greatest 
care.  Pastures  make  cows,  while  the  cows  turn  the 
pastures  into  rich  products.  Hence  in  such  luxuriant 
pastures  as  those  of  Switzerland  excellent  cotvs  may 
reasonably  be  expected.  Their  domestication  is  so  com- 
plete that  the  disposition  of  Swiss  cattle  is  docile, 
and  gentleness  is  one  of  their  marked  characteristics. 
This  again  reacts  upon  the  productive  character,  and 
thus  the  Swiss  cows  are  very  desirable  dairy  animals. 
Some  of  them  were  imported  into  Massachusetts  a 
few    years    ago,    and    were    found   very  well    adapted 


cows   FOR  THE   DAIRY.  45 

to  our  American  climate.  From  Massachusetts  tliey 
have  spread  into  other  States,  and  are  now  kept  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  gain  a  wide  reputation  for  butter  pro- 
duct. The  average  yield  of  a  Swiss  cow  is  2,700  quarts  in 
a  year,  but  the  milk  is  rich  in  cream.  The  largest  yield 
is  from  twenty-four  to  thirty  quarts  daily,  and  the  pro- 
duct of  butter  varies  from  a  pound  to  two  pounds  daily. 
These  cows  are  brownish  in  color,  of  solid  build,  and 
make  very  good  beef  animals.  The  portrait  given,  fig- 
ure 6,  is  one  of  a  cow  of  the  Simmenthal  breed,  which 
is  considered  the  best  in  Switzerland. 

The  Devok  Breed  is  said  to  be  the  oldest  pure  race 
of  domestic  cattle  in  existence.  This  may  be  true,  for 
no  other  breed  reproduces  itself  so  true  to  type  and  with 
such  slight  variations.  The  color  of  a  pure  Devon  is  a 
rich  dark  red,  solid  and  without  any  mixture.  The  horns 
are  long  and  fine,  and  on  the  whole  this  breed  is  espe- 
cially well  and  handsomely  formed.  As  ^^  general  pur- 
pose" cattle  they  are  second  only  to  the  Shorthorn,  being 
very  fair  dairy  cows,  giving  an  average  yield  of  milk, 
and  rich,  high-colored  and  highly-flavored  butter  equal 
in  quality  to  that  of  the  Jersey  cows.  The  oxen  are  the 
best  for  tlte  yoke,  being  active,  docile,  sagacious,  easily 
trained,  and  of  good  size.  The  Devon  beef  is  considered 
the  best  of  all  kinds,  being  tender,  sweet,  and  well  mar- 
bled with  fat.  For  the  purpose  of  the  farm  dairy  theso 
cows  will  probably  be  more  suitable  than  any  other  kind; 
but  for  special  dairy  purposes,  where  the  most  butter 
from  the  least  feed  is  required,  the  Devons  will  rank 
lower  than  the  best.  A  pure  Devon  cow  five  years  old, 
in  the  author's  dairy,  gave  eight  pounds  of  the  best  qual- 
ity of  butter  weekly  for  three  months,  when  the  yield 
fell  off  quite  rapidly;  at  the  same  time  Jerseys  and  Ayr- 
shires  were  giving  ten  pounds  weekly  and  only  fell  off 
slowly,  keeping  up  a  profitable  yield  for  fully  eight 
months  in  the  year.     These  yields,  however,  were  from 


46  THE   DA.IRYMAX'S  MANUAL. 

well  selected  animals,  fed  as  highly  as  they  could  safely 
bear. 

The  Polled  Xorfolk  is  a  red  cow  much  like  the 
Devon  in  appearance,  but  having  no  horns.  For  some 
» very  good  reasons  horns  are  not  desirable  in  the  dairy, 
and  their  absence  from  the  cows  is  a  point  in  their  favor 
which  goes  a  long  way  to  make  up  for  any  deficiencies. 
But  the  Xorfolk  cows  are  said  to  be  excellent  dairy 
animals.  There  are  several  herds  of  them  in  America. 
Most  of  them  have  sprung  from  recent  importations  from 
England,  where  they  are  highly  valued  for  milk  and 
beef.  They  are  certainly  no  better  than  the  Devons  in 
the  dairy,  if  as  good;  but  the  absence  of  horns  goes  some 
way  to  balance  the  deficiency.  While  this  breed  is  men- 
tioned, it  is  more  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  any  charge 
of  prejudice  against  a  breed  of  useful  cattle  which  are 
considered  by  those  who  keep  them  quite  valuable  for  tlie 
dairy,  than  to  class  them  on  a  par  with  the  special  dairy 
breeds  previously  described.  If  a  dairyman  wants  a 
herd  of  cows  which  are  without  horns,  he  can  find  such 
cows  among  the  polled  Xorfolks. 

While  considering  this  matter  of  horns,  it  might  be 
said  that  there  are  many  weighty  reasons  to  be  urged  in 
favor  of  hornless  cattle.  Horns  are  offensive  weapons 
r  of  tlie  most  dangerous  character,  and  may  be  suddenly 
turned  against  an  unwary  owner  as  quickly  as  against 
other  cattle  in  the  herd.  Numerous  distressing  acci- 
dents occur  every  year  in  this  way,  and  very  great  dam- 
age results  to  cows,  calves,  and  other  animals  from  the 
pugnacity  of  cows  and  bulls  who  use  these  most  injurious 
and  often  fatal  weapons  offensively  in  every  sense  of  the 
term,  and  never  defensively,  as  nature  intended,  but 
which  are  not  required  under  domestication.  Then  the 
question  arises,  how  can  the  cattle  be  deprived  of  these 
offensive  and  threatening  horns  without  injury,  damage, 
or  inconvenience  ?    A  horn  has  a  bony  center,  which  is  a 


cows   FOR  THE   DAIRY. 


47 


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48  THE   DATRYMAi^'S   MAN'UAL. 

part  of  the  skull,  a  prolongation  of  the  frontal  process, 
protected  by  the  smooth  covering  known  as  the  horn.  In 
a  young  animal,  a  calf  of  a  month,  the  horn  is  unformed, 
and  becomes  develoiDed  slowly,  beginning  to  grow  out- 
wardly at  the  age  of  six  to  eight  weeks.  At  this  time 
it  first  appears  upon  the  surface  as  a  horny  plate,  which 
is  not  attached  to  the  skull,  but  is  a  growth  from  the 
skin,  with  which  it  is  identical  in  composition.  If  this 
horny  plate  be  cut  loose  from  the  skin  and  removed,  and 
the  wound  be  touched  for  an  instant  with  the  point  of  a 
hot  iron,  the  embr3'o  horn  is  at  once  destroyed  and  no 
further  growth  takes  place.  If,  then,  it  is  desirable  to 
have  hornless  cattle,  there  is  no  necessity  to  select  any 
inferior  animals  simply  because  they  are  devoid  of  horns, 
but  to  rear  the  best  calves  and  dishorn  them  when  it  can 
be  done  easily  and  painlessly;  the  operation  being  very 
simple,  and  free  from  all  but  a  momentary  pain  which  is 
by  no  means  intense.  The  operation  of  emasculation, 
which  is  considered  necessary,  but  no  more  so  than  that 
of  dishorning,  is  greatly  more  painful  and  the  pain  is 
much  longer  continued. 

These  dishorned  animals,  bred  together,  soon  produce 
hornless  i^rogeny,  which  in  the  course  of  time  inherit 
the  polled  heads.  If  the  horn  must  go,  in  the  march  of 
improvement  and  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  by  all 
means  let  it  be  effected  in  this  easy  and  humane  manner. 
No  doubt  the  valuable  product  of  any  herd  of  dairy  cows 
would  be  increased  at  least  ten  joer  cent  annually,  and  the 
cattle  could  be  managed  with  much  less  trouble  and 
annoyance,  if  the  animals  were  devoid  of  the  cruel  horns. 

The  list  of  the  recognized  pure  bred  dairy  breeds  is  by 
general  consent  of  leading  dairymen  confined  to  four 
only,  viz.,  Holstein-Friesians,  Ayrshires,  Jerseys,  and 
G.uernseys.  While  these  are  certainly  the  most  noted  and 
valuable  cattle  for  the  dairy,  it  is  equally  true  that  if  the 
dairy  business  of  the  world  were  confined  to  these  four 


cows   FOR  THE   DAIRY. 


49 


I  if  if' 


50  ■  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

breeds,  butter  and  cheese  would  be  very  scarce  commodi- 
ties, and  worth  at  least  five  dollars  per  pound,  until  the 
slow  increase  of  these  pure  bred  cattle  su^Dplied  the  gen- 
eral demand.  Of  the  11,000,000  cows  in  the  United 
States,  there  are  not  more  than  100,000  cows  of  these  pure 
breeds.  The  10,900,000  left  are  the  natives,  so  much 
despised  by  the  breeders  of  the  herd-book  stocks.  They 
are  the  foundation  and  material  of  the  grand  structure 
of  our  dairy  industr}',  and  supply  the  public  demand  for 
dairy  products,  the  pure  breeds  are  the  gilding  and  orna- 
mentation of  the  structure.  It  is  important  then  that 
dairymen  and  farmers  should  give  their  most  careful  and 
untiring  efforts  to  the  improvement  of  what  is  known 
as  our  native  stock — to  v\'bich  it  is  the  fashion  of  some 
thoughtless  breeders  and  writers  to  apply  the  offensive, 
opprobrious,  and  wholly  undeserved  name  of  '^  scrubs" — 
and  to  add  to  their  productive  value  by  skillful  selection, 
judicious  breeding,  liberal  feeding,  and  the  exercise  of  the 
most  considerate  care  and  rearing.  In  future  chapters 
this  part  of  the  business  of  the  dairyman  will  be  as  fully 
considered  as  space  will  admit. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BREEDING  AND  REARING  DAIRY  COWS. 

The  cows  are  the  dairyman's  machines  for  changing 
food  into  more  salable  and  valuable  products.  As  ma- 
chines are  valuable  in  proportion  to  the  effective  work 
they  perform,  so  cows  are  to  be  valued  for  the  amount  of 
milk  and  butter  they  can  produce  from  a  certain  quantity 
of  food.  The  cow  which  yields  half  a  pound  of  butter 
daily  is  worth  no  more  than  half  as  much  as  one  that 
produces  one  pound  per  day,  and  in  fact  less  than  that, 


BREEDING   AND   BEARING   DAIRY   COWS.  51 

because  while  two  such  cows  have  to  be  fed  for  the  same 
equivalent  of  product,  and  the  cost  of  the  butter  is  thus 
doubled,  there  is  twice  as  much  labor  spent  in  gather- 
ing this  pound  from  the  two  cows.  All  this  is  clear  to 
the  commonest  understanding,  but  it  is  necessary  to  em- 
phasize the  trite  statement  to  show  the  great  importance 
of  the  home  breeding  and  rearing  of  the  cows  kept  in  a 
working  dairy.  It  is  not  possible  to  purchase  the  best 
cows;  the  owners  know  their  value  and  will  not  sell  them 
except  at  high  prices  which  the  dairyman  cannot  afford 
to  pay.  He  must,  therefore,  rear  his  own  herd,  and  make 
it  so  valuable  that  it  will  repay  all  the  care  and  cost  ex- 
pended upon  it. 

The  art  of  breeding  is  governed  by  a  few  rules,  which 
are  simple  and  easy  to  understand. 

The  first  and  most  important  of  these  is,  that  *'like 
produces  like,"  by  which  is  meant  that  animals  of  certain 
peculiarities  of  form,  color,  disj)osition,  habit,  and  cpial- 
ity,  when  bred  together,  reproduce  their  own  characteris- 
tics in  their  progeny.  This  rule  has  been  so  uniformly 
and  constantly  proved  by  practice,  and  is  so  reasonable 
and  natural,  that  it  may  be  taken  as  a  safe  guide  in  the 
rearing  of  dairy  cows.  Every  person  may  see  it  proved 
by  practice  every  day  of  his  life.  There  is  more  or  less 
.of  family  likeness  in  persons  as  well  as  .in  the  lower  ani- 
mals. The  progeny  of  a  Jersey  cow  is  always  a  Jersey, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  all  other  breeds.  A  good  rich 
milker  produces  calves  that  are  good  milkers,  and  that 
bear  a  close  resemblance  to  herself  in  all  valuable  points. 
It  is  the  fashion  to  assert  that  only  pure  breeds  have  this 
physiological  power  of  propagating  their  own  characteris- 
tics. This  is  nothing  more  than  a  claim  made  without 
sufficient  reason  by  the  breeders  of  these  cattle,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  the  market  value  of  their  stock  ;  a 
legitimate  way,  perhaps,  of  doing  business  as  it  is  now 
done.     All  animals  possess  this  power  to  some  degree^ 


52  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

and  by  a  careful  course  of  selection  tliis  natural  procliv- 
ity may  be  encouraged,  developed,  and  strengthened, 
until  the  breed,  as  it  is  then  called,  has  this  power  in  an 
eminent  degree,  and  the  progeny  partakes  very  closely  of 
the  cliaracter  of  the  parents.  This  is  the  point  to  be 
aimed  at  by  dairymen,  who  should  first  learn  by  careful 
tests  which  are  their  best  cows  ;  then  feed  them  liberally 
to  develop  their  qualities  to  the  fullest  extent;  breed 
them  to  males  of  known  hereditary  excellence  ;  and  pur- 
sue the  same  plan  Avith  their  progeny.  The  male  should 
be  selected  from  some  pure  breed,  not  at  haphazard,  but 
after  careful  investigation  of  its  antecedents,  and  espe- 
cially of  its  parentage.  Milking  quality  is  the  only  point 
to  be  considered,  for  this  alone  brings  the  profit  desired. 
A  dairyman  should  look  to  his  special  business  for 
his  profit,  and  never  be  induced  to  compete  with  pro- 
fessional breeders  in  the  rearing  of  stock  for  sale. 
Hundreds  of  dairymen  have  been  misled  into  disastrous 
losses,  during  the  progress  of  what  might  be  called  the 
Jersey  speculation  of  the  last  seven  or  eight  j^ears,  by 
purchasing  at  high  prices  animals  belonging  to  certain 
families  which  were  popular  at  the  time,  but  whose 
popularity  was  soon  eclipsed  by  new  favorites.  Specu- 
lation of  this  kind  cannot  fail  to  bring  losses  upon  a 
dairyman  who  gives  it  precedence  over  his  legitimate 
business. 

It  matters  not  what  breed  is  chosen.  If  it  is  the  Short- 
horn, or  the  Holstein-Friesian,  for  the  production  of 
milk  or  for  cheese,  or  the  Jersey,  Guernsey  or  Ayrshire 
for  butter,  as  good  a  bull  as  can  be  afforded  should  be 
secured.  As  a  rule  a  calf  should  be  purchased,  and  this 
may  be  safely  done  if  the  pedigree  is  right,  and  the  milk- 
ing quality  of  his  dam  and  both  granddams  has  been 
found  satisfactory.  It  is  more  profitable  to  pay  a  large 
price  for  a  good  animal  than  a  small  price  for  a  poor  one. 
The  bull  is  half  the  herd  as  regards  the  calves,  and  more 


BREEDIK^G   ATSTD   REARliTG   DAIRY   COWS.    *  53 

than  that  when  it  is  procured  for  the  purpose  of  improv- 
ing native  stock.  The  spare  male  calves  may  be  easily 
disposed  of  to  neighbors  who  are  not  so  particular,  or 
are  less  experienced  in  this  respect,  for  some  advance  on 
the  value  of  the  common  stock,  that  will  in  good  part  re- 
pay the  cost  of  the  sire. 

Breed  is  undoubtedly  dependent  upon  feed.  Feeding 
and  training  have  given  the  value  to  the  bree(i,  and  this 
value  must  be  kept  up  by  feeding  and  training.  The 
mistake  is  often  made  of  getting  a  pure  bred  animal  and 
subjecting  it  to  all  the  careless  management  which  is 
given  to  the  common  stock,  and  expecting  that  this  ani- 
mal, by  virtue  of  its  parents'  character,  can  lift  up  the 
common  herd  and  double  or  treble  its  value  in  a  few 
years.  Such  a  hope  is  doomed  to  disappointment  from 
the  outset.  When  a  pure  animal  is  brought  into  a  herd 
its  care  should  be  at  least  equal  to  that  which  it  has  been 
used  to,  and  the  very  same  system  of  feeding  and  general 
management  should  be  followed  with  the  whole  herd. 
If  this  practice  is  followed,  success  will  be  sure,  and  the 
desired  end  will  be  reached. 

A  bull  over  a  year  old  may  serve  ten  or  twelve  cows  in 
the  season  ;  the  next  year  twenty  or  twenty-five  services 
will  not  overtax  his  powers  ;  but  overwork  is  to  be  avoid- 
ed. It  is  better  to  ask  a  fee  of  five  dollars  per  cow  for 
outside  service,  and  admit  two  or  four  cows,  than  take 
one  dollar  each  for  ten  or  twenty.  A  service  is  usually 
valued  at  what  it  costs,  and  is  more  thought  of  at  five 
dollars  than  it  would  be  at  one  or  two  dollars.  The 
owner  of  the  cow  will  be  apt  to  take  more  care  of  the 
calf,  and  value  it  more,  if  it  costs  him  five  dollars,  and 
the  higher  fee  will  be  of  service  to  him  in  this  respect, 
and  he  will  get  good  value  for  it  in  more  ways  than 
one.  My  way  of  managing  a  bull  has  turned  out  con- 
venient, safe,  and  satisfactory.  A  pen  and  yard  adjoin- 
ing the   cow  stable   and   barnyard  were   provided  for 


u 

him,  and  he  was  kept-  in  it,  not  having  the  freedom  of 
the  barnyard  at  any  time,  except  when  driven  to  the 
water-trough  while  the  yard  was  empty,  and  he  was  at 
once  returned  to  his  own  j^ard.  It  is  a  good  practice 
to  employ  the  bull  at  light  work,  which  keeps  him  docile, 
and  makes  him  more  'certainly  useful.  A  one-horse 
tread-power  may  be  provided,  in  which  he  may  work  a 
fodder  cutter,  or,  if  no  work  is  to  be  done,  may  take 
exercise.  If  a  harness  is  provided,  the  bull  may  be  trained 
to  work  in  a  cart,  and  draw  fodder  from  the  fields  to  the 
stable,  or  remove  manure,  or  do  other  useful  service. 

"When  his  attention  is  required  by  any  cow,  this  animal 
is  led  to  the  bull's  yard  with  the  halter  on  its  head,  and 
is  tied  in  a  corner  specially  provided  with  a  strong  ring. 
The  bull  is  then  let  out  of  the  stall  and  left  with  the 
cow.  The  bull's  yard  is  closed  in  with  a  tight  board  fence 
eight  feet  high,  but  a  slide  opening  is  made  in  it,  through 
which  the  animals  can  be  observed.  When  the  service 
has  been  effected,  the  bull  is  driven  into  his  stall  and 
shut  up,  and  the  cow  is  taken  to  a  sej^arate  pen  with  a 
loose  stall,  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  is  kept  there 
until  she  recovers  her  usual  condition,  when  she  is  re- 
turned to  the  stable.  This  avoids  considerable  annoyance 
and  is  a  security  for  the  effectiveness  of  the  service. 

A  bull  is  never  to  be  depended  upon,  and  should  never 
be  approached  by  any  person,  not  even  his  keeper,  unless 
he  be  armed  with  a  stout,  sharp  rawhide.  A  bull  should 
be  kept  in  constant  subjection,  and  when  at  all  slow  in 
obeying  an  order  the  rawhide  should  be  administered 
sharply  and  swiftly,  but  never  cruelly.  As  a  sharp  re- 
minder of  pains  and  penalties  to  come,  a  cut  with  the 
rawhide  will  always  be  effective  in  securing  prompt 
obedience.  This  cautious  and  safe  training  and  disci- 
pline should  never  be  relaxed,  or  a  life  may  be  lost  or 
serious  injury  be  done  at  a  moment's  warning.  It  is 
always  dangerous  to  pet  a  bull,  and  although  he  may 


BKEEDma  AKD  REAUIKG  DAIRY  COWS.  55 

have  cost  liis  owner  1500  he  should  never  be  permitted 
the  least  freedom  on  that  account. 

The  cow  once  safely  in  calf  should  be  fed  ia  accordance 
with  the  new  demands  upon  her  system.  The  method 
of  feeding  will  be  found  particularly  described  in  the 
chapter  devoted  to  the  feeding  of  cows,  and  it  would  be 
desirable  to  follow  the  directions  there  given  as  closely  as 
may  be  convenient.  The  calf  partakes  of  the  disposition 
of  the  dam,  and  if  the  cow  has  any  special  failing  or  fault 
this  should  be  averted  by  the  most  careful  treatment, 
and  every  effort  made  to  insure  a  docile  and  gentle  dis- 
position in  the  coming  calf. 

Liberal  feeding  should  be  a  paramount  rule,  for  as  it 
has  been  the  means  of  building  up  the  breed  it  cannot 
be  dispensed  with  in  the  progeny.  The  food  supplied 
should  be  of  a  nutritious  kind,  and  while  it  is  given 
without  stint  it  should  never  be  given  in  excess.  Ex- 
cess of  food  has  a  directly  opposite  result  from  that  which 
is  intended,  and  is  one  of  the  frequent  mistakes  in  rear- 
ing calves  which  should  be  carefully  avoided.  By  de- 
veloping the  character  of  the  calf  through  liberal  feed- 
ing, and  gentle  and  kind  treatment,  a  capacity  for 
digesting  large  quantities  of  most  nutritious  food,  and 
such  a  disposition  as  renders  the  animal  easily  subject 
to  necessary  discipline,  are  secured,  and  in  time  become 
characteristics  which  will  be  inherited. 

The  proper  development  of  the  milk  organs  is  a  point 
which  must  not  be  neglected.  The  young  animal  should 
be  bred  early,  to  give  a  precocious  habit  to  the  race.  At 
two  years  old  the  first  calf  may  be  dropped ;  but  an 
interval  of  at  least  eight  or  nine  months  should  elapse 
before  she  is  bred  again.  This  tends  to  give  persistence 
in  the  secretion  of  milk,  and  lengthens  the  period  of 
profitable  milk  production,  upon  which  the  value  of  a 
cow  very  much  depends.  The  second  calf  then  comes  at 
three  and  a  half  years  of  age,  when  the  young  cow  is  well 


66 

developed,  and  is  able  to  give  a  large  product  of  milk  and 
butter. 

It  is  advisable  that  the  calf  should  be  taken  from  the 
cow  very  soon  after  it  is  dropped  and  removed  to  a  pen 
provided  for  the  purpose.  In  the  plan  of  the  farm  given 
in  Chapter  II.  there  are  shown  two  of  these  pens,  each 
of  which  IS  divided  into  four  stalls  separated  by  parti- 
tions four  feet  high,  of  upright  bars  three  inches  apart. 
This  secures  ample  ventilation  and  gives  the  calves  com- 
panionship, which  keeps  them  from  fretting.  The  cow 
is  removed  to  a  roomy  box-stall  nine  by  seven  feet,  at  the 
extreme  end  of  the  stable,  aAvay  from  the  calf  pens,  a  few 
days  before  her  time  expires,  and  is  kept  tiiere  four  days 
after  the  calf  is  dropped,  when  the  milk  is  fit  for  use.  Six 
liours  after  the  calf  is  taken  away  the  cow  is  milked  and 
the  milk  is  at  once  given  to  the  calf.  This  method  tends 
to  make  the  cows  naturally  oblivious  of  their  calves,  and 
avoids  the  trouble,  so  common  m  dairies,  of  cows  hold- 
ing up  their  milk.  It  also  makes  the  calf  docile  and 
attached  to  its  keeper,  and  enables  it  to  be  trained  with 
much  ease.  After  a  few  years  of  this  kind  of  manage- 
ment the  cows  will  evince  no  disturbance  at  the  loss  of 
their  calves,  and  will  come  into  the  dairy  at  the  right 
time  without  any  difficulty.  The  calves  are  made  more 
gentle,  and  the  habit  soon  becomes  confirmed  and 
hereditary. 

In  the  selection  of  a  cow  for  breeding  the  following 
points  should  be  considered.  A  model  useful  dairy  cow 
may  be  known  at  a  glance  by  an  expert.  She  has  a  fine 
long  head,  broad  between  the  eyes,  and  a  thin  wide 
muzzle  •  the  eyes  are  large  and  of  a  mild  expression  ;  the 
neck  IS  thin  and  long  ;  the  ears  are  thm  and  covered 
inside  with  a  deep  yellow  skm  ;  the  fore-quarters  are 
light  and  thm,  and  the  whole  body  has  much  of  the 
shape  of  a  wedge,  mcreasiug  in  size  to  the  rear  ;  the  legs 
are  chin,  with  fine  bone  ;  the  belly  is  large  and  deep,  with 


BREEBIKG   AKD  BEARIKG   DAIRY  COWS.  57 

large  capacity  for  food  ;  the  back  is  broad  and  straight, 
and  the  ribs  are  well  rounded  towards  the  rear  ;  the  bones 
of  the  rump  are  wide  apart ;  the  tail  is  long  and  thin  ; 
the  thighs  are  thin,  and  are  set  widely  apart ;  the  udder 
I  is  large  and  full,  especially  behind;  the  teats  are  of  good 
size  and  set  wide  apart  upon  a  broad  level  udder,  and  the 
milk  vein — so  called — which  is  the  large  vein  leading  from 
the  udder  and  passing  into  the  abdomen,  and  which  is  an 
indication  of  the  amount  of  blood  circulating  through  the 
milk  glands  and  contributing  to  the  milk  secretion,  should 
be  full  and  tortuous  in  its  short  course.  A  fine  horn,  a 
deep  yellow  skin,  and  a  general  elegance  of  form,  with- 
out any  heaviness  or  beefiness  in  any  part,  are  also  impor- 
tant indications  of  good  quality  in  a  cow  for  the  dairy. 

The  bull  should  have  the  special  characteristics  of 
the  cow,  diifering,  however,  in  development  as  becomes 
a  male  animal.  The  form  of  the  head  and  body;  the 
large,  mild  eye ;  the  fine,  clear,  waxy  horn ;  the  yellow 
lining  of  the  ears  ;  the  yellow  skin,  and  the  general  light- 
ness and  elegance  of  form,  all  go  to  indicate  a  good 
animal  for  the  dairy. 

A  good  calf  should  be  of  slender  build,  long  and  thin 
in  the  body,  with  a  long  head  and  limbs,  a  bright,  large 
eye,  thin  ears,  fine  thin  skin,  and  smooth  hair,  without 
any  noticeable  brisket.  The  teats  should  be  placed 
widely  apart,  and  the  undeveloped  udder  should  be  loose 
and  skinny. 

Many  breeders  place  great  weight  upon  the  form  of 
the  escutcheon,  or  the  hair  which  grows  upwards  on  the 
back  part  of  the  thighs  and  udder.  A  well-shaped 
escutcheon  can  do  no  harm,  but  there  are  numerous 
excellent  cows  which  have  no  escutcheon  to  speak  of, 
and  the  business  dairyman  may  very  well  afford  to 
ignore  it. 

The  portrait  of  the  Jersey  bull  Pedro  (figure  5),  and 
that  of  the  Holstein-Friesian   cow  Netherland    Queen 


58  THE  dairyman's  MAKUAL. 

(figure  4),  give  an  excellent  idea  of  v/hat  the  typical  form 
of  a  dairy  bull  and  cow  should  be.  That  of  the  Ayrshire 
cow  Flora  (figure  3)  is  excellent,  except  in  one  respect, 
viz.,  the  rather  short  teats,  which  are  common  in  this 
breed.  * 

The  breeding  periods  of  the  cow  occur  at  intervals  of 
twenty  to  twenty-one  days,  and  usually  begin  at  the  age 
of  twelve  to  fourteen  months;  some  Jersey  calves  (this 
breed  is  naturally  precocious)  have  bred  at  the  age  of 
seven  months  or  even  earlier.  Fleming,  in  his  excellent 
work  on  Veterinary  Obstretrics,  states  that  seventy -nine 
per  cent  of  cows  are  fertile  and  twenty-one  per  cent 
sterile.  My  own  observations  certainly  differ  from  this 
author,  for  of  twenty-eight  herds,  including  my  own, 
with  which  I  have  been  intimately  acquainted,  and  in 
which  were  altogether  nearly  500  cows,  there  were  but 
three  cases  of  absolute  sterility. 

The  cow  carries  its  foetus  about  280  days,  or  nine  months; 
the  period  of  pregnancy,  however,  varies  in  cases  from 
240  to  301  days.  Of  1,062  cases  noted  at  a  French  agri- 
cultural school  15  calved  m  241  days  ;  52  from  241  to 
270  davs  ;  119  from  271  to  280  days  ;  544  from  271  to  300 
days  ;  *^230  from  281  to  290  days ;  70  from  290  to  300 
days  ;  32  went  beyond  301  days.  The  longest  known 
period  is  from  330  to  353  days.  The  averages  given  by 
many  observers  are  283,  286,  2807,,  284,  282  for  female 
and  288  for  male  calves  ;  and  all  these  coincide  in  the 
belief  that  a  male  calf  is  carried  several  days  longer  than 
a  female. 

The  cow  rarely  has  multiple  births  ;  but  occasionally 
twms,  and  even  more,  are  produced.  Twin  births  seem 
to  be  hereditary,  and  it  is  believed  by  some  prominent 
veterinary  practitioners  that  this  peculiarity  may  easily 
be  made  habitual  by  a  course  of  selection  in  breeding. 
Cases  are  cited  in  which  the  progeny  of  multiple  bearing 
cows  have  produced  twins,  and  m  one  case  seven  calves 


CHOPS  FOR  DAIRY  FARMS.  59 

v/ere  borne  by  one  cow  within  twelve  months,  and  six  of 
them  survived.  This  cow  had  twenty-five  calves  at  eight 
births,  one  producing  six,  but  none  of  them  lived. 

Accidents  of  birth  are  rare  among  cows  which  are  well 
cared  for  and  kept  in  good  condition.  In  nearly  ever 
case  of  mal-presentation  and  difficult  parturition,  the 
cause  has  been  traced  to  cliasing  by  dogs,  injury  by  other 
cows,  or  some  violent  accident.  Extreme  care  should  be 
taken  to  avoid  such  accidents,  which  are  all  preventable. 

In  the  case  of  twin  births,  the  popular  belief  that 
twins  of  opposite  sexes  are  sexually  imperfect  is  supported 
by  observation  and  facts.  But  when  the  twins  are  both  of 
one  sex  they  are  normally  perfect  in  this  respect.  When 
a  male  and  female  calf  are  twinned,  the  female  is  almost 
always  imperfectly  formed  and  will  not  breed.  Such 
females  are  popularly  known  as  free  martins  and  may  be 
considered  worthless  for  breeding. 


CHAPTER    V. 

CROPS  FOR  DAIRY  FARMS. 

The  feeding  of  the  stock  is  of  paramount  importance 
in  the  dairy,  and  a  suitable  selection  of  crops  for  feeding 
is  one  of  the  subjects  which  require  careful  study.  Some 
crops  are  more  productive  than  others,  and  are  conse- 
quently more  profitable.  As  a  rule  the  dairyman  should 
aim  to  grow  fodder  and  not  grain,  purchasing  the  grain 
and  other  concentrated  foods  with  the  proceeds  of  the 
larger  crops  of  fodder  grown.  Fodder  cannot  be  pur- 
chased, it  is  too  bulky  for  carriage,  and  no  farmer  has 
any  surplus  of  it  to  spare  ;  but  grain-feeding  substances 
cim  be  often  purchased  more  cheaply  than  they  can  be 
i^rown.  Hence  it  is  that  the  question  of  crops  for  fodder 
becomes  of  great  importance  to  the  dairyman. 


60  THE 

Grass  is  the  first  crop  to  be  considered;  but  it  is  so  im- 
portant in  its  several  uses,  and  there  are  so  many  vahiable 
kinds  of  it,  that  a  special  chapter  should  be  devoted  to  it. 

Fodder  Corn  follows  grass  in  rank  as  a  feeding  crop, 
either  green  for  summer  use,  or  preserved  as  ensilage,  or 
dried  and  cured  for  winter  use.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
productive  and  nutritious  plants  when  properly  grown 
and  cultivated.  It  has  yielded  from  twenty-four  to  forty 
tons  of  green,  and  five  to  eight  tons  of  cured  fodder.  It 
requires  rich  land  and  good  cultivation,  however,  to  make 
this  yield  ;  but  on  poor  land  helped  by  artificial  fertilizers 
a  very  profitable  yield  can  be  made.  In  such  a  case  a 
poor  sandy  farm  which  was  badly  run  down  produced, 
with  600  pounds  of  special  corn  manure  to  the  acre, 
twenty-four  tons  of  Evergreen  sweet  corn  and  twelve  tons 
of  Early  Narragansett  sweet  corn  per  acre.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible to  grow  both  of  these  crops  on  the  same  ground  the 
same  season  ;  for  tlie  early  corn  will  be  ready  for  cutting 
in  fifty  days  from  planting,  and  the  later  kind  planted 
in  July  will  mature  in  Sej^tember,  thus  giving  thirty- 
six  tons  of  green  fodder,  or  eight  tons  of  cured  fodder, 
per  acre.  It  is  this  rapid  growth  which  makes  the  crop 
so  valuable. 

Fodder  corn  has  acquired  a  bad  reputation  by  reason 
of  the  mistaken  manner  of  growing  it;  viz.,  by  broad- 
casting the  seed  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  bushels  per 
acre,  by  which  the  crop  is  so  crowded  that  it  makes  a 
pale,  watery,  rank  forage,  quite  devoid  of  nutriment  and 
worth  but  little  more  than  wood  shavings.  Cows  have 
been  known  to  reject  fodder  thus  grown,  which  is  a  con- 
vincing proof  of  their  natural  sagacity. 

When  grown  in  rows  three  feet  apart,  and  with  four  to 
six  seeds  dropped  eighteen  inches  apart,  the  fodder  is 
entirely  different.  It  is  green  in  color,  mature  in  its 
growth,  full  of  sweetness,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the 
stalks  will  have  ears  in  what  is  known  as  the  roastinic 


CROPS  FOR   DAIRY   FARMS.  61 

stage,  and  as  the  fodder  is  cured  these  may  be  dried, 
if  the  proper  precautions  are  taken  in  the  curing.  The 
author  has  taken  over  10,000  ears  of  sweet  corn  fit  for 
market  per  acre  from  a  crop  of  Evergreen  sweet,  and  this 
product,  gathered  and  sold  from  farms  near  large  cities, 
is  exceedingly  valuable,  frequently  selling  for  $1.50  per 
100  ears,  and  if  late  in  the  season,  and  of  good  size,  for 
nearly  or  quite  twice  as  much.  Thus  this  crop  is  a 
very  useful  one  for  dairymen  who  are  near  a  market 
for  this  kind  of  truck. 

The  crop  is  cultivated  precisely  as  field  corn  is.  At 
the  proper  time,  which  is  when  the  ears  are  in  the 
milk,  the  corn  is  cut  close  to  the  ground  in  the  usual 
manner  and  left  for  two  or  three  days  to  dry.  It  is  then 
bound  in  small  sheaves  of  about  twenty  stalks  in  each, 
with  bands  of  rye  straw,  then  set  up  in  small  shocks 
and  bound  securely  at  the  top,  the  bottom  being  spread 
to  admit  the  air.  It  is  thus  left  until  the  stalks  are 
quite  dry  and  the  ears  shrunken,  when  it  is  put  up  in 
small  stacks  of  about  1,000  bundles  or  less,  built  around 
a  frame  made  like  three  ladders  meeting  at  the  top  and 
spreading  at  the  bottom,  by  which  air  is  admitted  into 
the  center  of  the  stack  and  mildew  is  prevented.  When 
fed  green  the  stalks  are  cut  up  in  a  fodder  cutter  with 
the  ears,  and  make  a  most  valuable  food  for  the  cows. 
They  are  very  productive  of  milk  of  good  quality.  Sweet 
corn  ears  in  the  ccoking  stage  make  excellent  food  for 
butter-making  cows,  and  the  butter  is  of  fine  flavor  and 
quality. 

In  growing  the  second  crop  the  land  is  plowed  as  fast 
as  the  first  one  is  removed,  the  swivel  plow  being  the 
most  convenient  implement,  and  is  harrowed  and  planted 
as  soon  as  a  space  wide  enough  to  start  on  is  ready.  The 
Acme  harrow  prepares  the  plowed  ground  very  quickly 
and  perfectly,  and  the  Albany  corn  planter  drops  and 
covers  the  seed,  and  marks  the  rows,  at  one  operation. 


62 

Thus  no  time  is  lost  and  the  crop  comes  in  rapidly.  As 
soon  as  the  seed  is  planted  the  fertilizer  should  be  §own 
over  the  surface  and  left  for  the  first  rain  to  carry  it  into 
the  soil. 

Clover  is  the  next  crop  in  value  to  be  considered 
after  fodder  corn.  This  has  the  advantage  that  it  may 
stay  m  the  ground  two,  three,  five  or  more  years,  as  it 
may  be  rightly  managed.  On  good  land  clover  is  a  per- 
ennial, while  on  poor  land  it  dies  out  the  third  year  and 
i.s  thus  a  biennial.  The  most  profitable  kind  is  the  com- 
mon red  clover  ;  the  annual  crimson  clover  (Trifolium 
mcarnatum)  is  useful  in  some  sections,  but  only  for  green 
fodder.  It  matures  and  ripens  its  seed  the  first  year. 
At  the  South  it  is  sown  in  autumn  and  cut  the  following 
spring. 

Clover  may  be  sown  alone  or  with  aome  grain  crop, 
or  with  turnips.  It  can  be  sown  in  April  on  well  pre- 
pared ground  and  make  pasture  or  a  cutting  in  the  fall, 
or  it  may  be  sown  then  with  oats,  or  in  July  with  buck- 
wheat, or  in  the  same  month  alone  or  with  turnips.  But 
this  crop  will  not  succeed  upon  poor  land,  and  it  is  a 
waste  of  time  and  seed  to  try  it.  Fodder  corn  will  do 
better  in  such  a  case.  But  clover  may  be  grown  upon 
well  manured  or  liberally  fertilized  soil,  well  plowed  and 
thoroughly  harrowed,  with  500  or  600  pounds  of  super- 
phosphate per  acre  and  300  pounds  of  plaster.  One  peck 
of  seed  should  be  sown  to  the  acre. 

When  it  is  sown  with  orchard  grass  it  becomes  more 
useful,  and  the  two  together  yield  three  times  as  much 
fodder  or  hay  as  the  clover  alone.  If  cut  for  hay,  it 
should  be  mown  when  in  full  blossom  and  before  a  head 
has  turned  brown.  It  is  then  in  its  most  nutritious 
stage.  The  author's  practice  is  to  begin  cutting  as  soon 
as  the  dew  has  dried  off,  and  cut  up  to  three  or  four  in 
the  afternoon.  The  clover  is  then  gathered  with  the 
horse  rake  into  large  windrows,  where  it  is  left  until  the 


CROPS   FOR   DAIRY   FARMS.  63 

following  day.  As  soon  as  this  is  done,  cutting  is  re- 
sumed until  sundown.  The  next  morning  cutting  be- 
gins again  as  before,  and  the  windrows  are  gathered  into 
cocks  holding  about  300  pounds  each,  which  will  make 
them  about  four  feet  in  diameter  and  six  feet  high. 
The  cocks  are  covered  with  hay  caps  made  of  brown 
sheeting  fifty-four  inches  square,  and  fastened  down  at 
the  corners  by  long  thin  wooden  pins  thrust  into  the  hay. 
The  hay  is  thus  safe  against  the  weather  until  the  whole 
crop  is  cut  and  put  up  in  the  same  manner.  It  is  then 
taken  to  the  barn  or  barracks.  The  cocks  are  thrown 
open  and  aired  for  an  hour,  then  loaded  and  put  into  the 
mow  and  trampled  down  firmly.  It  will  sweat  and  heat 
a  little,  but  this  improves  the  quality  of  the  hay  and 
increases  its  digestibility. 

When  there  is  plenty  of  straw,  clover  may  be  cured 
in  an  easy  manner  by  taking  it  up  as  it  is  cut  and 
packing  it  in  a  tight  mow,  in  alternate  layers  of  about 
a  foot  in  thickness,  with  dry  straw.  The  clover  heats 
slightly,  and  impregnates  the  straw  with  its  sweet  flavor 
and  odor,  thus  making  the  straw  more  palatable,  so  that 
both  can  be  fed  together. 

There  are  several  other  excellent  feeding  crops  which 
may  be  made  available  for  dairy  farming,  but  as  these 
will  be  referred  to  in  Chapter  VII.,  under  the  head  of 
''  Soiling,"  no  further  mention  need  be  made  of  them 
here. 

Millet  is  a  valuable  crop  for  hay  as  winter  feed.  It 
is  sown  in  June  or  July,  and  is  fit  to  cut  in  six  weeks. 
Half  a  bushel  of  seed  is  sown  per  acre,  and  the  crop  is 
cut  when  in  early  blossom,  or  it  becomes  hard  and  un- 
palatable. 

Root  Crops  are  the  main  dependence  of  the  dairyman 
for  winter  feeding,  and  are  indispensable  for  complete 
and  profitable  success  in  the  business.  Winter  dairying 
cannot  be  carried  on  without  a  good  supply  of  root^, 


64  THE   DAIRYMAX'S   MANUAL. 

The  roots  mostly  grown  for  the  purpose  are  mangels, 
sugar  beets,  carrots,  and  parsnips.  The  method  of  cul- 
ture is  the  same  for  each. 

The  soil  for  roots  must  be  rich.  A  corn  stubble  lib- 
erally manured  in  the  fall,  and  plowed  so  as  to  cover 
the  manure  in  even  layers  intermingled  with  the  soil,  and 
lying  at  an  angle  of  fort^'-five  degrees,  and  so  remaining 
during  the  winter,  then  cross-plowed  and  thoroughly 
harrowed  in  the  spring,  is  the  best  preparation  for  a  crop 
of  roots.  The  manure  becomes  thoroughly  incorporated 
with  the  soil  and  decomposed,  and  affords  excellent  food 
for  the  roots.  The  land  is  plowed  early  in  May,  and  im- 
mediately harrowed  deeply  to  make  it  mellow  and  fine. 
The  seed  for  mangels  and  sugar  beets,  four  to  six  pounds 
per  acre,  according  to  its  freshness  and  reliability,  is  sown 
by  a  hand  drill  m  rows  twenty-seven  inches  apart. 
The  drill  leaves  a  roller  mark  over  the  seed  by  which  the 
rows  can  easily  be  seen.  As  soon  as  the  seed  is  sown, 
600  pounds  of  salt  and  300  pounds  of  the  best  superphos- 
phate per  acre  are  sown  evenly  over  the  surface.  The 
horse  hoe  is  started  in  the  spaces  between  the  rows  a 
week  after  the  seed  is  sown,  the  roller  mariis  serving 
as  guides.  When  the  plants  are  up  in  the  rows  a  gar- 
den hand  cultivator  is  run  across  the  rows,  with  the  cut- 
ters set  to  ten  inches  in  width.  This  is  run  back  and 
forth,  leaving  four-inch  spaces  between  the  cultivated  , 
rows  in  which  the  plants  are  left.  A  great  deal  of  hand 
hoeing  is  thus  saved,  and  the  hand  cultivator  may  be  used 
as  frequently  as  the  horse  hoe  is,  to  mellow  the  soil  be- 
tween the  plants,  and  to  prevent  weeds  in  these  spaces. 
The  cost  of  the  crop  is  reduced  one-half  by  this  method 
of  cultivation. 

When  the  crop  covers  the  ground  and  the  leaves  meet 
in  the  rows  cultivation  ceases.  When  fully  grown  the 
roots  are  harvested  as  follows.  A  man  with  a  sharp, 
heavy  hoe  goes  along  one  row  and  clips  off  at  a  stroke 


CROPS   FOR   DAIRY    FARMS.  65 

the  leaves  from  the  roots  on  his  right  hand.  It  is  easier 
to  do  this  when  the  man  walks  backwards.  At  the  end 
of  the  row  he  turns  and  retraces  bis  steps  in  the  same 
row,  thus  gathering  the  tops  of  two  rows  in  one.  An- 
other man  follows,  and  with  a  diggmg  fork  turns  the 
roots  out  into  the  empty  space  on  his  left  or  right  hand,  ] 
as  the  case  may  be,  gathering  two  rows  of  roots  into  one 
space.  There  are  thus  alternate  rows  of  roots  and  tops. 
It  is  most  conyenient  for  the  roots  to  be  thrown  in  heaps 
between  the  rows,  leaving  spaces  wide  enough  for  the 
passage  of  a  horse  and  cart,  in  which  they  are  lifted  with 
a  broad  blunt  fork,  with  tines  bent  somewhat,  to  hold 
the  roots. 

The  tops  are  gathered  and  put  in  heaps  in  a  convenient 
place,  covered  with  straw  and  then  with  a  little  earth,  in 
which  manner  they  may  be  kept  fresh  for  several  weeks, 
and  will  afford  excellent  fodder.  The  roots  are  put  up 
in  conical  heaps  in  trenches  two  feet  deep  and  four  feet 
wide,  covered  with  straw  and  then  with  earth,  thus  keep- 
ing in  perfect  condition  until  June  of  the  next  year. 
Care  is  to  be  taken  to  avoid  heating,  by  putting  ventila- 
tors in  the  top  of  the  heaps  to  afford  an  escape  for  the 
heated  and  damp  air  which  gathers  in  the  pits  from  the 
sweating  of  the  roots ;  round  dram  tiles,  or  bundles  of 
smooth  straight  straw,  make  excellent  ventilators. 

Carrots  and  parsnips  are  more  difficult  to  grow  than 
beets  and  mangels,  but  with  care  they  will  yield  a  heavy 
crop  of  most  valuable  fodder  for  winter  feeding..  Of 
mangels  the  best  kinds  are  the  long  red  and  the  yellow 
globe  ;  of  sugar  beets.  Lane's  improved,  grown  by  Hon. 
Henry  Lane  of  West  Corn\vall,  Vermont ;  of  carrots,  the 
long  orange,  the  Belgian  and  Altringham  are  most 
suitable  for  field  cult -.ire  ;  of  parsnips  there  is  but  one 
kind.  Parsnij^s  may  be  left  in  tlie  ground  all  the  win- 
ter with  safety,  and  thus  a  large  part  of  them  need  not 
be  harvested  in  the  fall.     Turnips  of  all  kinds  are  unfit 


66  THE 

for  use  in  the  dairy  except  for  dry  cows,  young  cattle, 
and  bulls,  and  as  they  are  inferior  to  the  roots  men- 
tioned, no  further  notice  will  be  given  them. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
GRASSES  FOR  PASTURES  AND  MEADOWS. 

Grass  is  the  most  important  crop  for  the  dairyman. 
In  the  great  majority  of  cases  pasturing  must  be  the 
main  dependence  for  the  summer  feeding,  and  the 
meadow  furnishes  the  hay  for  winter.  Consequently, 
the  method  of  culture  of  grass  should  be  well  under- 
stood. As  a  rule  the  sowing  of  grass  of  various  kinds 
is  made  with  some  grain  crop,  and  usually  m  the  fall 
with  wheat  or  rye.  This  method,  however,  is  not  just 
to  the  grass,  nor  is  it  favorable  for  the  best  results  to  the 
seeding.  The  so-called  foster  crop  very  often  robs  the 
grass  and  exhausts  the  soil  of  its  needed  nutriment,  and  a 
very  poor  catch  is  the  result.  If  the  soil  is  thoroughly 
well  prepared  by  manuring  and  sufficient  tillage,  the  two 
crops  may  grow  together  very  well,  and  the  grass  make 
a  rrood  stand.  But  this  is  seldom  the  case,  except  with  a 
few  good  farmers  who  need  no  advice  or  suggestion  upon 
the  subject.  The  great  majority  of  farmers  need  to  study 
this  subject  and  understand  the  requirements  of  the  grass 
for  its  successful  culture. 

The  preparation  of  the  soil  should  be  very  thorough. 
The  land  should  bo  plowed  deeply,  and  a  liberal  coat  of 
manure  turned  under,  not  buiied,  but  with  the  furrows 
laid  over  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  so  that  the 
manure  lies  between  the  la3^ers  of  soil  standing  on  edge  in 
a  sloping  manner.  The  harrow,  run  along  the  furrows, 
works  the  soil  and  manure  together,  mixing  them  and 


GRASSES   FOR   PASTURES   Al^D   MEADOWS.  67 

making  them  fine  and  compact.  The  harrowing  should 
be  continued  until  the  whole  surface  is  as  smooth  as  a 
garden,  and  the  soil  is  quite  fine.  If  the  Jand  is  clayey 
and  lumpy,  it  should  be  rolled  between  the  harrowings. 

Sowing  the  seed  alone  is  preferable.  If  any  grain  crop 
at  all  IS  used,  it  should  be  oats  in  the  spring,  or  buck- 
wheat early  in  July,  as  may  be  most  convenient.  Excel- 
leut  seeding  has  been  made  early  in  August  with  a  pound 
of  turnip  seed  to  the  acre.  This  shelters  the  young  grass 
during  the  winter ;  and  dying,  the  turnips  decay  in  the 
spring,  and  afford  a  most  useful  fertilizer  for  the  crop. 
Timothy  and  clover,  orchard  grass  and  clover,  or. 
the  three  kinds  mixed,  and  orchard  grass  alone,  have 
been  sown  in  all  of  these  three  ways  with  better  results 
than  when  sown  with  fall  gram  and  subjected  to  the 
risks  of  the  winter  weather. 

In  sowing  grass  and  clover  seed  an  even  stand  is  de- 
sirable, and,  to  secure  this,  great  care  is  to  be  taken  in 
the  sowing.  A  very  good  practice  is  to  make  the  last 
harrowing  with  great  care,  evenly,  and  with  the  marks 
all  parallel.  Then  the  sower  can  follow  these  marks, 
first  taking  the  edge  of  the  field  and  returning  six  short 
paces  distant  from  the  first  course  ;  then  returning  on 
the  second  course,  and  always  sowing  with  the  right 
hand  to  the  left.  Six  feet  for  each  cast  is  as  much  as 
can  be  taken  with  light  seed — as  orchard  grass,  blue 
grass,  red-top,  etc. — and  as  much  as  should  be  taken 
with  timothy.  The  quantity  of  seed  taken  may  be 
readily  gauged  to  the  width  of  the  cast.  The  cast  is 
made  with  each  movement  of  the  right  foot.  When 
the  wind  is  blowing,  even  slightly,  the  casts  should  be 
made  low  to  avoid  irregular  dropping  of  the  seed,  and 
when  the  light  seeds  are  sown  it  is  easier  to  walk  across 
the  harrow  marks,  when  the  tracks  made  are  easily  seen  ; 
and  as  the  wind  may  curry  the  seed  to  one  side,  the 
sower  may  go  out  of  the  straight  track  to  accommodate 


G8  THE   DAIRYMAls-'S   MAXUAL. 

the  wind,  and  on  returning  can  easily  distinguish  the 
foot  marks  of  the  preWous  track  m  the  soft  soil. 

A  broadcast  seeder  is  a  convenient  implement  which 
costs  but  little,  and  can  be  carried  by  the  sower  with  ease. 
It  drops  the  seed  low,  and  if  the  sower  goes  face  to  the 
wind  at  the  start  the  seed  is  not  spread  unevenly.  AVhen, . 
in  spite  of  all  care,  an  irregular  seeding  is  anticipated,  it 
is  well  to  sow  half  the  seed  one  way,  and  cross  the  sowing 
the  other  way,  when  vacant  spaces  may  be  covered.  An 
inexperienced  sower  should  practice  on  the  snow,  using 
sand,  which  can  be  easily  seen  on  the  white  surface,  and 
in  two  or  three  attempts  he  will  be  able  to  make  the 
sowing  quite  evenly.  The  sowing  should  be  done  as 
soon  as  the  last  harrowing  is  finished,  when  the  seed 
sinks  in  the  loose  soil  or  is  covered  by  the  first  shower. 
A  smoothing  plank  is  a  good  thihg  to  cover  seed  with. 
It  may  be  eight  or  ten  feet  long,  and  is  provided  with  a 
tongue  and  two  stiff  braces.  The  tongue  is  fitted  to  the 
plank  on  the  level,  so  that  when  it  is  raised  the  front  end 
of  the  plank  is  elevated  a  little.  This  prevents  the  plank 
from  gathering  stones  or  sods  m  front  of  it,  and  causes 
it  to  ride  over  them.  It  leaves  a  smooth  even  surface. 
Rolling  the  land  after  sowing  is  sometimes  useful  and 
advisable,  but  is  so  often  injurious  that  it  may  be  dis- 
pensed with  quite  generally. 

Few  American  farmers  know  how  many  varieties  of 
grass  and  foliage  plants  are  in  use  in  agriculture.  Timo- 
thy and  red-top,  with  red  clover,  are  the  first  and  the 
last  and  the  whole  list  in  common  use  upon  the  majority 
of  farms.  Orchard  grass  is  sometimes  sow^n  by  a  few  of 
the  most  progressive  farmers,  and  blue  grass,  tall  oat 
grass,  and  meadow  fescue  are  occasionally  used  in  a  small 
way  in  some  localities  where  they  are  not  indigenous, 
but  grow  almost  spontaneously.  Yet  really  the  kinds  of 
grasses  available  for  farm  culture  in  permanent  meadows 
are  quite  numerous.     An  English  seedsman's  catalogue 


GRASSES   FOR   PASTURES   AKD   MEADOWS.  69 

enumerates  considerably  over  100  varieties,  the  seeds  of 
whick  he  offers  for  sale  in  regular  trade,  and  all  these 
are  grown  more  or  less  by  the  English  farmers,  either 
for  annual  fodder  crops,  for  intermediate  rotation,  or  for 
permanent  pastures  and  meadows.  Included  in  this  list 
there  are  three  species  of  agrostis,  four  of  avena,  five  of 
bromus,  eleven  of  clover,  ten  of  fescue,  three  of  lolium, 
seven  of  poa,  three  of  oat  grass,  and  fourteen  different 
forage  plants  for  mixture  in  pastures. 

We  here  refer  to  some  of  these  grasses  which,  from  our 
own  knowledge  or  actual  tests,  we  have  found  useful  and 
available  for  meadows  and  pastures  and  upon  various 
soils,  and  which  we  believe  are  indispensable  for  the  use 
of  American  dairymen.  The  leading  seedsmen  are  offer- 
ing various  mixtures  to  meet  the  demand  which  has 
arisen.  It  is  not,  however,  to  the  best  interests  of 
farmers  to  take  whatever  selection  is  offered  to  them.  It 
is  better  that  they  should  select  for  themselves,  with 
a  knowledge  of  their  own  soil  and  climate,  and  of  the 
grasses  they  would  wish.  The  following  grasses  are 
the  most  valuable  for  cultivation  under  the  conditions 
and  for  the  purposes  mentioned : 

Agrostis  stolonifera,  or  white  bent,  is  the  most  valua- 
ble of  all  tlie  grasses  of  the  genus  to  which  the  well 
known  red-top  belongs.  It  is  often  called  Rhode  Island 
bent,  and  in  the  South  florin.  Its  creeping  root  gives  it 
a  permanent  hold  upon  suitable  soil,  which  is  damp  and 
rich  loam,  and  it  is  therefore  valuable  for  pastures.  It 
has  an  early  and  late  growth,  and  is  exceedingly  produc- 
tive, having  yielded  on  a  rich  reclaimed  swamp  as  much 
as  17,600  pounds  of  green  grass  or  7,740  pounds  of  hay 
from  one  acre,  cut  at  the  time  of  blossoming.  When  the 
seed  was  ripe  the  produce  of  uncured  herbage  was  19,050 
pounds  per  acre.  The  yield  is  still  heavier  when  sown  in 
reasonable  proportion  with  other  grasses.  - 

Agrostis  vulgaris,  or  the   common   red-top,  is  well 


70  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

known  as  a  useful  grass  on  low,  moist  lands,  and  as  light 
and  useless  upon  dry,  poor  uplands.  It  has  a  creeping 
root,  and  is  a  good  grass  for  pasture  upon  reclaimed 
swamp  lands. 

Poa  serotina,  fowl  meadow  grass,  is  a  most  valuable 
grass  for  moist  soils.  It  has  a  fibrous,  creeping  root,  an 
early  growth,  and  renews  itself  quickly  after  cutting  or 
pasturing.  It  is  eagerly  eaten  by  cattle,  and  patches  of 
it  in  a  meadow  will  be  eaten  closely  while  red-top  is  left 
untouched.  It  is  very  productive,  and  we  have  had  it 
four- feet  tall,  with  broad,  abundant  foliage,  upon  a  rich, 
reclaimed,  peaty,  moist  meadow. 

Phleum  lyratense,  or  timothy,  is  too  well  known  to 
need  any  description.  Its  bulbous  root  is  unfavorable 
for  long-continued  growth,  and  it  is  not  a  suitable  grass 
for  permanent  pastures  or  meadows,  although  it  is  the 
best  of  all  kinds  as  an  intermediate  crop  for  hay. 

Avena  elatior,  or  ArrUehatherum  avenaceum,  the  tall 
oat  grass  or  evergreen  grass  of  the  Western  States,  is  a 
most  valuable  kind  for  permanent  meadows  and  for  woods 
or  shaded  pastures.  It  is  very  early  and  productive, 
rather  coarse  but  nutritious,  and  has  produced  over  three 
tons  of  hay  to  the  acre  when  grown  alone,  but  like  its 
relative,  Avena  flavescens,  the  yellow  oat  grass,  it  succeeds 
better  in  company  with  other  grasses.  These  grasses  are 
suitable  for  all  kinds  of  soil,  but  do  their  best  in  moist, 
rich  clay  loams. 

Alopecurus  prate7isis,  or  meadow  foxtail,  is  one  of  tlie 
best  meadow  and  pasture  grasses.  The  root  leaves  grow 
rapidly  after  having  been  eaten  down,  and  it  makes  a 
dense  matted  herbage.  It  is  one  of  the  best  of  grasses 
for  damp,  rich  lands  and  irrigated  meadows,  and  has  a 
luxuriant  growth,  almost  equal  to  timothy  in  value  on 
rich  soil.  It  blossoms  in  May  and  is  thus  mature  for 
cutting  along  with  orchard  grass.  Over  12,000  pounds 
per  acre  of  green  fodder  has  been  produced   by  this 


OEASS"ES   FOR   PASTURES  AND   MEADOWg.  'J'l 

variety,  the  hay  from  which  amounted  to  more  than 
three  tons,  with  2,500  pounds  of  second  growth  hay. 
Like  timothy,  this  grass  is  most  nutritious  when  the 
seed  is  ripe. 

Cynosurus  cristatus,  crested  dog's  tail,  is  a:  rery  close 
growing  grass  and  makes  a  dense  sod ;  it  does  well  upon 
all  kinds  of  soils,  and  especially  upon  irrigated  or  moist, 
drained  meadows.  For  lawns  it  is  one  of  the  most 
Taluable  of  all  the  thick-growing  fine-leaved  kinds.  It 
is  not  very  productive,  but  its  late  growth,  being  in 
blossom  in  June  and  July,  makes  it  valuable  as  affording 
a  succession  of  feed  after  the  earlier  kinds  have  been 
cropped.  It  is  strictly  a  pasture  grass,  and  has  many  of 
the  valuable  qualities  of  the  Kentucky  blue  grass  for 
this  purpose. 

Dactylis  glomerata,  the  well  known  orchard  grass,  is 
without  exception  the  most  valuable  hay  and  pasture 
grass  for  sowing  alone.  We  have  grown  it  upon  good 
sandy  loam  soil  at  the  rate  of  16,000  pounds  per  acre  of 
green  herbage,  and  have  seen  it  growing  upon  moist,  low, 
rich  soil  at  least  twice  as  dense  as  this,  in  appearance. 
In  England  it  has  been  known  to  yield  nearly  28,000  of 
green  grass  and  11,800  pounds  of  hay  per  acre,  with 
12,000  pounds  of  green  aftermath.  '  It  thrives  on  all 
kinds  of  soil,  but  does  best  in  rich  lowlands.  We  know 
a  field  still  as  productive  as  at  first,  which  was  sown' 
thirty  years  ago,  and  has  produced  hay  and  afforded  full 
pasture  every  year  since,  but  has  been  liberally  top 
dressed  every  second  year.  The  hay,  cut  when  in  blos- 
som at  the  end  of  May,  is  sweet  and  palatable  to  horses 
and  cattle,  and  for  cows  there  is  no  better  pasture  than 
this  in  the  aftermath.  It  does  well  under  shade,  and, 
as  its  name  implies,  grows  well  in  orchards  and  wood 
lots.  Its  habit  of  growth,  which  is  stooling  and  tufty, 
is  the  only  objection  to  it  when  grown  alone,  but  when 
sown  with  other  kinds  the  vacant  spaces  are  filled. 


72  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

Festuca  elatior,  tall  fescue,  grows  naturally  upon  river 
banks  and  moist  places,  and  is  suitable  for  reclaimed  or 
irrigated  meadows.  It  is  exceedingly  joroductive  and 
has  been  reported  to  have  yielded  upon  au  English 
"water  meadow^'  over  50,000  pounds  of  green  grass 
and  17,800  pounds  of  hay  per  acre,  with  a  second  growth 
one-third  as  large.  It  is  an  early  grass  and  does  well 
when  sown  alone  or  in  mixture. 

Festuca  pratensis,  meadow  fescue  or  English  blue 
grass,  is  natural  in  that  country  to  moist,  low  alluvial 
meadows,  w^here  it  forms  a  large  proportion  of  the  herb- 
age, and  is  the  most  productive  pasture  and  hay  grass 
where  it  is  grown  largely  in  Kentucky.  It  is  equal  in 
every  respect  to  rye  grass,  without  any  of  its  defects.  It 
is  found  growing  spontaneously  in  many  parts  of  the 
Eastern  and  Middle  States,  and  forms  a  large  proportion 
of  the  ordinary  meadow  grass  and  roadside  herbage.  It 
is  of  strong  growth  and  robust  habit,  but  never  grows 
in  tufts ;  is  strictly  perennial ;  lasts  as  long  as  orchard 
grass,  and  is  an  excellent  kind  to  sow  with  this  grass. 
In  Kentucky  it  is  considered  next  in  value  to  the  famed 
blue  grass. 

Poa  pratensis,  the  blue  grass  of  Kentucky,  is  the 
finest  permanent  pasture  grass  existing.  Some  of  the 
meadows  of  Kentucky  have  been  in  pasture  from  the 
first  settlement  of  the  State  and  are  still  as  good  or  bet- 
ter than  at  first.  Its  value  is  shown  by  the  magnificent 
cattle  and  horses  reared  upon  these  old  meadows.  It 
succeeds  over  a  large  territory,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Missouri, 
Kansas,  Tennessee,  and  the  eastern  and  southern  moun- 
tain region,  notably  in  Southwestern  Virginia.  It  does 
not  succeed  as  well  in  Uie  Xorth  and  East ;  nevertheless, 
the  famed  dairy  localities  of  Central  K'ew  York,  Ver- 
mont, and  "Western  Pennsylvania  owe  their  rej^utation 
to  this  grass. 

Other  valuable  grasses  for  permanent  meadows  are: 


GRASSES   FOR   PASTURES   AND   MEADOWS.  73 

rye  grass,  a  variety  known  as  Pacey's  rye  grass  and 
perennial  rye  grass  being  the  most  valuable  ;  Poa  nemo- 
rails,  or  woods  meadow  grass ;  Poa  aqiiatina,  or  water 
sweet  meadow  grass;  Poa,  or  Glyceria  fluitans,  or 
floating  meadow  grass;  Poa  trivialis,  or  rough,  stalked 
meadow  grass  ;  Milium  effusum,  Festuca  rudra,  Festuca 
dunuscula.  All  have  valuable  qualities  for  permanent 
meadows,  either  dry,  moist,  or  irrigated. 

The  following  table  will  be  found  useful  in  selecting 
grasses  for  experiment,  and  for  reference  in  regard  to 
the  kind  of  grasses  most  suitable  for  diiferent  soils,  the 
time  of  flowering,  the  yield  of  fodder  and  hay  per  acre, 
and  the  quantity  of  seed  sown  per  acre  alone  and  in 
mixtute. 

TABLE   OF  GRASSES  FOR   PERMANENT  SOWING. 

FOB  WET  OR  IREIGATED  LAKD. 

Time              Hay,  Seed,  Seed,  per 

of                 Yield  Yield  Acre. 

Variety.                               Bloom.            Alone.  Alone.  Mixture 

fl).  K).  fc. 

Anthoxanthum  odoratum .June 1,000  . .  1 

Agrostis  stolonif era -July .4,000  24  5 

Poa  aquatica.. -July 6,000  ..  10 

Poa  trivialis- June 1,000  ..  4 

Poa  fluitans- --May 4,000  ..  5 

Agrostis  vulgaris June 4,000  24  5 

Lolium  Italicum -July- 1,500  30  10 

MOIST  AND  RICH  SOILS. 

Alopeeui'us  pratensis May 3,000  . .  5 

"Avena  flavescens June 2,000  ..  10 

^Dactylis  glomerata May -  -  6,000  24  10 

■  *Festuea  pratensis -. June .4,000  24  6 

*Lolium  perenne. July 1,500  ..  5 

*Poa  pratensis .June. 24  10 

Agrostis  stolonifera July 5,000  24  5 

Festuca  elatior June 6,000  24  6 

Phleum  pratense -July 6,000  10  3 

DRY  RICH   SOILS. 

Arrhenatherum  avenaceum June -4,000  20  5 

Cynosuras  cristatus June 500  ..  5 

Festuca  diiriuscula June. 8,000  ..  6 

and  those  above  marked  with  a  * 


74  THE  dairyman's  MAN"UaL. 

TABLE  OF  GRASSES  FOR  PERMANENT  SO  WI'SG.— Continued. 

DET,   GRAVELLY,  SAND   SOILS. 

Time  of       Hay,  Y'ld  Seed,  Tld  Seed,per 

Vaiiety.                                Bloom.             Alone.  Alone.  Acre.Mix. 

B).  fb.           tt>. 

Dactylis  glomerata May 4,000  30          15 

Lolium  perenne July 1,500  30           10 

Poapratensis- .June -  30           10 

Festuca  rubra.- June ..1,000  ..             5 

tKoeleria  cristata June --             4 

Festuca  ovina June .-            5 

WOODS,  PASTURES,  AND   ORCHARDS. 

Arrhenatherum  avenaeeum 30  10 

Dactylis  glomerata - 30  15 

Milium  effusum June 10  5 

Poapratensis 24  10 

Poa  nemoralis June 20  5 

Agrostis  vulgaris ...  - ...June --  10 

Where  figures  are  not  placed  this  indicates  that  the 
variety  referred  to  is  not  used  m  the  way  mentioned. 
It  is  not  intended  that  all  the  varieties  mentioned  should 
be  sown  ;  if  this  is  desired  the  quantities  of  the  grasses 
maturing  at  the  same  time  should  be  reduced  one-half. 
The  full  allowance,  however,  is  desirable  of  the  kinds 
which  mature  early.  The  large  quantity  of  seed  men- 
tioned is  necessary  for  mixed  sowing,  because  one  kind 
follows  the  other,  and  a  full  growth  of  each  is  desirable. 

The  character  of  these  grasses  in  regard  to  the  nutri- 
ment contained  varies  considerably;  it  varies  also  with 
the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  grasses  grown  upon  fertile 
and  suitable  soils  being  far  more  nutritious  than  those 
upon  poor  land.  The  following  table  gives  the  quantity 
of  nutriment  contained  m  the  best  quality  of  these  and 
some  other  grasses.  For  the  sake  of  convenience  and 
comparison  the  analyses  of  some  other  feeding  plants  are 
also  given. 

. —^—^ » — — — - 

t  This  grass  resists  extreme  droughts. 


GRASSES  FOR  PASTURES  AND  MEADOWS.  75 

Nutritive  Elements  Contained  Per  Cent  in  the  Following: 


AIR  DRY  PLANTS. 


Common  Vetch 

Japan  Clover.-- -- 

Red  Clover  in  full  bloom 

Red  Clover  in  early  blossom. 

Red  Clover  aftermath 

Red  Clover  in  seed 

Alfalfa  before  bloom 

Alfalfa  full  bloom 

Peas,  dry  substance i 

Narrow-leaf  Plantain -  - ! 

Crow-foot  Grass,  Eleusine  Indica 

Bermuda  Grass 1 

Crab  Grass 

Bainy'd  grass  Panicum  crus-galli\ 

Fowl-Meadow  Grass 1 

Wire  Grass,  Foa  compressa j 

Quack  Grass 

Kentucky  Blue  Grass  - | 

Red-top,  early  blossom- ..  .. 

Timothy,  young - . 

Timothy,  early  blossom 

Timothy,  seed  ripe 

Orchard  Grass,  young 

Orchard  Grass,  early  bloom.. 

Sweet  Vernal  Grass-. 

Rye  Grass 

White  Clover.--- -- 

■Salt  Marsh  Grass 

Hungarian  Grass -  -  - 


14.30 
14.30 
8.55 
9.45 
6.00 
8.15 
8.28 
6.55 

14.30 

14.30 

14.30 

14. 3U 

14.30 

14.30 

14.30 

14.30 

14.30 

6.65 

7.85 

5.60 

5.95 

5.75 

7.35 

6.45 

5.82 

16.50 

10.70 

13.40 


GrwEEN  FODDER  PLANTS. 


Good  pasture. -- 

Fodder  Corn 

Green  leaves  of  trees. 

Oat  Fodder 

Pea  Fodder 

Corn  Ensilage 

Clover  Ensilage 

Mangels 

Sugar  Beets 

Carrots -■ 

Parsnips 

Sweet  Potato 


78.20 
84.00 
61.1 
81.0 
81.5 
83.5 
79.2 
88.0 
81.5 
85.0 
88.3 
169.7 


7.71 

3.88 
7.60 
8.05 

10.55 
6.75 
8.92 
6.25 
4.01 
6.42 
6.49 
8.49 

10.81 
5.98 
4.46 
3.63 
7.99 
4.46 
7.05 
8.00 
5.70 
9.90 
9.70 
7.65 
6.80 
10.38 
6.0 
7.60 
5.70 


2.20 

1.00 

4.00 

1.4 

1.5 

1.1 

2.1 

0.8 

0.7 

0.9 

0.7 

1.1 


4.53 
3.76 
4.38 
5.25 
3.72 
3.65 
3.95 
2.63 
2.52 
3.82 
1.83 
1.83 
2.42 
1.84 
2.95 
2.43 
3.02 
2.45 
3.38 
4.20 
3.63 
3.20 
3.88 
3.03 
4.55 
2.18 
3.50 
2.45 
2.20 


1.0 
0.5 
1.5 
0.5 
0.6 
0.9 
2.2 
0.1 
0.1 
0.2 
0.2 
0.3 


1^ 


35.36 
44.82 
47.42 
42.30 
41.78 
49.90 
41.40 
47.94 
65.98 
47.52 
29.15 
46.06 
36.59 
46.44 
49.00 
56.40 
48.22 
44.96 
50.84 
50.05 
54.01 
47.09 
47.94 
50.32 
49.96 
48.72 
33.90 
41.30 
38.50 


10.10 

8.4 

15.2 

8.3 

7.6 

8.9 

6.4 

9.1 

15.4 

10.8 

10.2 

26.3 


13.06 
23.32^ 
14.55 
11.85 
13.10 
17.55 
17.85 
20.78 
7.58 
18.82 
26.58 
20.16 
27.50 
24.78 
21.73 
17.87 
16.63 
23.94 
20.20 
18.35 
21.43 
22.48 
17.68 
23.78 
19.80 
19.25 
25.60 
31.90 
29.40 


4.0 
4.7 
13.0 
6.5 
5.6 
5.3 
5.9 
0.9 
1.3 
1.7 
1.0 
1.7 


25.14 

12.92 

17.50 

23.10 

24.85 

14.00 

19.60 

15.75 

19.91 

9.12 

11.65 

9.16 

8.38 

6.66 

7.56 

5.37 

9.84 

9.89 

11.88 

11.55 

9.63 

11.38 

15.05 

8.92 

12.44 

13.65 

14.50 

6.10 

10.80 


4.5 
1.4 
5.2 
2.3 
3.2 
1.2 
4.2 
I.l 
1.0 
1.4 
1.6 
1.9 


The  above  table  is  most  interesting  and  important.  It 
needs  perhaps  a  few  words  of  explanation.  The  valu- 
able nutritive  parts  of  the  various  substances  mentioned 


76  THE  da^ikyman's  manual. 

are  the  fat,  carbo-hydrates,  fiber  and  albuminoids.     The 
fat,  it  IS  believed,  is  absorbed  directly  from  the  digested 
food  and  passes  into  the  circulation,  and  consequently 
into  the  milk  of  cows.     This  is  a  most  important  fact  to 
remember.     The  carbo-hydrates  consist  of  starch,  sugar, 
and   gum,  and  are  all  composed  of  carbon  and  water 
combined.     These  furnish  the  carbon  required  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  vital  heat,  and  to  some  extent  may 
furnish  material  for  the  development  of  fat  in  the  won- 
derful chemical  changes  of  the  animal  digestion  and  nu- 
trition.    The  fiber  consists  of  cellular  tissue  or  woody 
substance,  but  a  large  part  of  this  is  digestible,  and  is 
changed  in  the  animal  system  into  heat  and  fat.     This 
is  unquestionable,  for  the  beaver,  which  is  one  of  the 
fattest  of  animals,  lives  almost  wholly  upon  the  bark  and 
young  wood  of  trees.     The  albuminoids  are  perhaps  the 
most  interesting  of  all  these  substances.     Vegetable  al- 
bumen, fibrin  and  legumin  are  all  of  precisely  the  same 
chemical  composition,  as  will  be  more  fully  shown  in  a 
succeeding  chapter  ;  and  it  has  been  thought  probable  by 
some  competent  physiologists,  that  these  substances,  of 
which  the  albuminoids  of  the  food  are  composed,  are 
converted  directly  m  the  animal  system  into  the  fibrin  of 
blood  and  flesh,  and  the  caserne  of  milk.     Thus  the  foods 
which  contain  a  large  proportion  of  digestible  albumi- 
noids must  be  of  the  highest  value  to  the  dairyman,  and 
hence  it  is  of  great  interest  to  know  which  of  the  grasses 
are  the  best  for  use  m  the  dairy,  and  in  what  condition 
they  are  taken  for  food.     A  study  of  the  above  table  is 
therefore  of  much  interest  and  use  to  those  who  are  con- 
cerned in  the  dairy  business. 

It  should  not  be  passed  without  calling  special  notice 
to  the  fact,  that  grass  m  its  early  stage  of  growth  is 
much  more  nutritious  than  at  any  after  period.  Good 
pasture,  it  is  seen,  contains  in  its  fresh  state  four  and 
a  half  per  cent  of  matter  which  nearly  all  goes  to  make 


GRASSES   FOR   PASTURES   AN"D   MEADOWS.  77 

up  the  chief  solid  substance  of  milk, viz.,  the  caseine,  and 
also  the  large  proportion  of  one  per  cent  of  fat  which 
goes  to  furnish  the  cream  of  the  milk.  Hence  it  is  that 
fresh  young  pasture  in  early  June — the  ^'  Queen  month  " 
of  the  year,  when  the  meadows  are  in  all  the  glory  of 
their  fresh  and  tender  verdure — produces  the  most  and  the 
finest  butter  of  any  season.  Tlie  dairyman  then  should' 
take  pains  to  provide  a  succession  of  such  tender  and 
nutritious  feeding,  by  growing  a  succession  of  grasses  in 
his  fields  which  will  afford  the  needed  aliment  for  the 
best  and  largest  product  from  his  cows. 

The  same  remark  applies  equally  to  the  grasses  grown 
for  hay,  and  in  making  hay  the  dairyman  should  be 
guided  by  the  knowledge  conveyed  in  this  regard  by  the 
figures  above  given.  The  making  of  hay  is  then  a  sub- 
ject to  be  well  studied  from  this  point  of  view.  It  is  not 
simply  a  mechanical  operation — the  mere  cutting  and 
drying  of  the  grass — but  a  chemical  one,  in  which  the 
character  of  the  grass  is  changed.  Grass  contains  a 
small  proportion  of  fiber  as  compared  with  the  other  car- 
bonaceous matter  ;  but  the  reverse  is  true  of  hay.  The 
carbonaceous  elements  of  grass  consist  of  woody  fiber, 
starch,  gum  and  sugar.  These  consist  of  carbon  and 
water,  and  hence,  as  has  been  said,  are  called  carbo-hy- 
drates. These  substances,  which  appear  to  any  ordinary 
person  so  unlike  m  character,  are  really  identical  to 
the  chemist,  as  they  are  all  composed  of  precisely  the 
same  quantities  and  proportions  of  carbon  and  water. 
The  chemist  may  take  the  woody  fiber,  sawdust,  cotton- 
wool or  any  other  vegetable  tissue,  and  by  a  certain  pro- 
cess change  it  into  starch.  He  can  change  the  starch 
into  gum  and  the  gum  into  sugar,  These  changes  occur 
m  plants.  But  the  chemist  cannot  reverse  this  order 
and  take  sugar  and  bring  it  back  to  the  condition  of  gum 
or  starch  or  woody  fiber.  His  art  is  powerless  to  make 
these  transformations.  But  T^ature  can  produce  them  and  ' 


-78  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

does;  and  it  is  done  in  the  drying  of  grass  into  hay.  Ex- 
posure to  the  sun's  heat  and  light  destroys  the  green 
color  of  the  grass  first ;  the  bright  green  pales  and  be- 
comes lighter  at  first,  and  in  time  changes  to  a  brown. 

» This  green  color  consists  of  a  substance  m  the  cells  of 
the  plant  called  chlorophyll,  or  leaf  green.  It  is  an  oily 
^substance,  and  under  the  influence  of  oxygen  changes  to 
a  yellow.  It  is  supposed  that  this  coloring  matter  of  the 
fresh  grass  imparts  the  yellow  color  to  butter.  Grass 
butter  is  yellow,  but  hay  butter  is  white  ;  that  is,  if  the 
hay  is  made  in  the  common  manner  by  sun  drying  until 
the  green  color  is  lost.  The  chemical  change  m  the 
making  of  tne  hay  has  destroyed  this  coloring  matter. 
This  IS  one  of  the  changes.  But  the  operation  of  drying 
the  hay  changes  the  sugar,  gum  and  starch — m  part — 
back  to  woody  fiber.  Hence  hay  contains  a  considerably 
larger  proportion  of  fiber  than  grass  does,  and  less  sugar, 
gum  and  starch.  The  fiber  is  much  less  digestible  than 
these  substances,  hence  hay  is  not  as  nutntious  as 
grass  IS. 

This  IS  one  of  the  facts  known  in  relation  to  grass 
upon  which  the  proper  process  of  making  hay  is  based. 
Hay  may  be  made  so  as  to  retain  all  the  good  qualities 
and  nutriment  of  the  grass.     This  is  done  by  cutting 

w  the  grass — or  clover,  or  any  other  fodder  crop — when  it 
is  m  its  first  stages  of  blossoming.  It  then  contains  the 
most  of  -the  valuable  nutritious  elements,  and  the  least 
of  the  indigestible  matter.  And  to  preserve  these  nu- 
tritious elements  from  loss,  the  grass  must  be  cured  in 
the  shade  without  exposure  to  the  sun's  light  or  heat, 
and  dried  by  some  heating  process.  In  England  the 
very  best  of  hay  is  made  by  drying  the  newly-cut  grass 
by  artificial  heat  m  a  macliine  constructed  for 'the  pur- 
pose. The  grass  or  clover  is  cut  and  dried  at  once,  and 
retains  its  bright  green  color,  its  fragrant  odor — given  out 
by  the  essential  oils  contained  in  the  grass,  and  which 


GRASSES   FOR   PASTURES   Al^J)   MEADOWS.  79 

are  absorbed  directly  into  the  cow's  system  and  pass  into 
the  milk,  and  go  into  the  cream  and  butter — and  its  con- 
tents of  starch,  gum,  and  sugar.  With  our  favorable 
climate  we  do  not  need  this  drying  apparatus  ;  we  can 
•  gam  the  same  ends  without  it.  We  cut  the  young  grass 
'or  clover,  leaving  it  on  the  ground  a  few  hours  only 
to  get  rid  of  the  outer  moisture  and  wilt  it  thoroughly, 
and  then  put  it  up  in  heaps  or  cocks,  cover  it  with 
hay  caps  made  of  squares  of  strong  cotton  sheeting  fifty- 
four  inches  wide,  and  leave  it  to  ferment  and  heat 
slightly,  which  it  does  naturally.  This  heat  drives  off 
the  moisture,  and  cooks — so  to  speak — to  some  extent,  the 
woody  fiber,  and  changes  it  into  starch  and  gum  and 
sugar,  and  makes  it  easily  digestible  and  nutritious.  If 
it  does  not  actually  produce  these  changes,  it  prepares 
the  fiber  for  digestion  in  the  stomach  of  the  cow,  so  that 
it  can  there  undergo  the  change  by  which  it  is  converted 
into  the  sugar  of  the  milk  and  the  fat  of  the  cream.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  making  of  hay  is  really  a  very  important 
business  to  the  dairyman.  It  is  not  only  the  gathering 
of  a  harvest,  it  is  also  the  performing  of  a  chemical  pro- 
cess by  which  the  crop  is  improved  in  quality  and  is 
made  more  digestible  and  nutritious.  And  in  perform- 
ing this  work,  the  thoughtful,  studious  person  cannot 
fail  to  be  interested  in  the  most  pleasing  and  instructive 
manner  as  he  becomes  acquainted  with  one  of  the  won- 
ders of  nature,  and  learns  how  simple- but  yet  how  amaz- 
ing are  the  changes  wrought  in  the  plant  by  the  force  of 
natural  laws  which  are  incomprehensible  to  him.  He 
knows  that  these  changes  occur,  but  not  how  they  are 
induced  or  perfected  ;  he  cannot  tell  how  they  are  di- 
rected ;  he  can  understand  that  they  depend  upon  the 
wonderful  mechanism  of  vegetable  structure,  and  upon 
a  living  principle  of  which  he  is  entirely  ignorant  except 
that  it  exists.  What  is  this  principle  ?  It  is  called 
vegetable  life.     It  exists  iu  the  dry  seed  and  germ ;  it 


80  THE    dairyman's   MANUAL. 

wakens  into  action  by  the  influences  of  beat  and  moisture, 
and  controls  the  growth  of  the  plant  through  a  succes- 
sion of  changes  until  it  dies  and  leaves  again  a  seed. 
What  it  is  we  know  not ;  it  is  an  amazing  mystery. 


CHAPTER    VII. 
SOILING    AND    SOILING    CROPS. 

The  practice  of  soiling  is  adapted  for  high  pl-iced  lafids 
near  large  cities,  where  the  market  for  milk  and  fine  butter 
affords  a  sufficient  compensation  for  the  large  investment 
of  capital  and  the  otlier  expenses  which  appertain  to  highly 
improved  localities.  As  seven  acres  of  pasture  are  required, 
on  an  average,  to  supply  one  cow  in  fully  profitable  con- 
dition, it  will  not  pay  to  feed  cows  in  this  way  where 
land  costs  more  than  $100  per  acre  ;  and  indeed  $50  per 
acre  may  be  made  the  limit  of  cost  in  this  respect.  Where 
land  is  cheap,  the  products  of  it  are  cheaply  raised,  and 
where  the  land  is  higher,  necessarily  the  products  are 
more  costly  in  proportion.  Hence  the  dairyman  whose 
farm  costs  him  four  to  ten  times  as  much  as  that  of  a 
Western  or  Southern  farmer,  cannot  j)ossibly  compete 
with  him  in  making  butter  or  cheese,  because  the  cost  of 
transporting  those  products  to  market  by  rail  is  much 
less  than  the  difference  in  cost.  But  the  case  was  worse 
than  this,  for  the  dairymen  in  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  have 
had  their  goods  brought  to  market  in  competition  with 
those  from  New  York  and  Vermont,  and  even  New  Jersey, 
at  an  actually  less  cost  per  pound  for  freight.  This  in- 
creased cost  for  less  carriage  was  another  of  the  burdens 
which  forced  dairymen  in  the  East  to  resort  to  the  prac- 
tice of  soiling  that  they  might  reduce  the  cost  of  their 
products. 


*  SOILING   AI^D   SOILING   CROPS.  81 

Again,  our  hot  dry  summers  very  quickly  burn  up  the 
pastures,  and  in  July  the  feed  becomes  hard  and  scarce, 
and  the  milk  product  necessarily  rapidly  decreases. 
Hence,  some  adequate  provision  must  be  made  to  meet 
this  emergency,  and  nothing  serves  so  well  as  what  are 
known  as  soiling  crops,  which  are  cut  and  carried  to  the 
cows  on  their  pastures  to  help  out  the  feed,  or  to  yards 
or  feeding  lots  where  they  are  kept  and  fed  wholly  upon 
this  green  fodder.  A  very  large  product  of  milk  of  the 
best  quality  is  thus  procured,  and  the  cows  are  kept  up 
to  their  fullest  productive  ability  by  abundance  of  succu- 
lent food,  helped  by  the  use  of  such  concentrated  foods  as 
can  be  purchased  cheaply  and  are  suitable  for  the  pro- 
duction of  milk  of  excellent  quality.  The  average  pro- 
duct of  the  cows  may  thus  be  easily  doubled,  while  the 
increased  cost  of  the  service  is  not  more  than  one-fourth, 
and  in  many  cases,  not  one-tenth.  In  the  author's  dairy 
the  yield  of  the  cows  has  been  brought  up  from  five 
pounds  to  ten  pounds  of  butter  per  week,  by  means  of 
soiling,  while  one  acre  of  land  under  crops  has  been  made 
to  support  a  cow  during  the  entire  year,  and  less  than  half 
an  acre  per  cow  has  been  used  for  pasture  and  for  the 
needed  runs  for  exercise.  The  profit  has  thus  been  not 
only  m  the  increased  product  but  also  in  the  decreased  area 
of  land  required,  and  in  another  way,  viz.,  in  the  making 
and  saving  of  a  large  quantity  of  manure,  the  advantage  . 
of  this  system  has  been  very  considerable.  But  there  are 
many  persons  living  in  suburban  localities  whose  home- 
stead contains  but  a  few  acres,  one  or  two,  or  three,  and 
this  limited  area  is  all  that  can  be  afforded  to  provide 
room  for  horse  and  stable,  garden,  and  ground  for  keep- 
ing a  family  cow,  a  most  indispensable  necessity  in 
semi-rural  and  rural  districts.  The  practice  of  soiling 
meets  such  cases  exactly,  for  if  one  acre  of  land  can  be 
made  by  any  sort  of  management  to  support  a  cow 
through  the  year,  or  even  the  summer^  a  most  important 


82  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

object  is  gained.  And  soiling  will  make  this  possible. 
Tor  the  practice  of  soiling  some  suitable  arrangements 
are  necessary.  A  yard  provided  with  feed  racks  and  a 
supply  of  water,  adjoining  the  stable  and  furnished  with 
an  open  shed  for  shelter ;  and  for  large  herds  some  ad- 
jacent grass  lots  are  required.  The  remainder  of  the 
land  is  unobstructed  by  fences  and  is  all  under  the  plow. 
Where  soiling  is  only  partial,  and  for  the  support  of  the 
cows  while  the  grass  fails  for  two  or  three  months  only, 
nothing  more  is  required  than  suitable  provision  for  grow- 
ing the  crops  and  feeding  them  in  some  convenient 
manner,  either  m  the  pastures  or  in  the  yards  or  stables. 
The  crops  that  have  been  found  most  suitable  for  the 
purpose  are  rye  sown  m  the  fall,  orchard  grass,  clover,  oats 
or  barley  and  peas  mixed,  field  corn,  sweet  corn,  millet, 
alfalfa  (lucern),  and  hay  and  roots  for  winter  feeding. 
These  crops  are  grown  m  succession ;  that  is,  rye  sown 
early  in  the  fall  makes  the  first  feeding,  either  for  early 
spring  pasturing  or  cutting  as  soon  as  it  shows  the  heads; 
this  IS  followed  by  orchard  grass,  which  is  a  permanent 
crop  and  may  be  pastured  or  mown  as  soon  as  the  rye  is 
exhausted.  As  the  rye  is  cut  off  in  strips  across  the 
field,  the  land  stripped  is  at  once  manured,  plowed,  and 
planted  with  early  sweet  corn — Narragansett  being  pre- 
ferred, because  it  is  nearly  as  early  as  the  earliest,  and  is 
larger  in  growth  and  in  every  way  excellent.  As  soon  as 
another  strip  is  cleared  of  rye,  it  is  treated  m  the  same 
way,  until  the  whole  of  the  rye  ground  is  planted.  Clover 
comes  into  use  with  or  after  the  orchard  grass.  These 
crops  as  a  rule  should  be  cut  and  not  pastured,  as  there 
is  an  economy  of  fully  twenty-five  per  cent  in  cutting 
over  pasturing.  The  clover  lasts  until  the  first  swTct 
corn  is  ready  early  in  July,  and  from  that  time  there  will 
be  abundance  of  fodder  from  the  corn  all  summer.  As 
the  ground  is  cleared  of  corn  it  is  manured  and  plow^ed, 
and  replanted  with  Evergreen  sweet  corn,  or  with  early 


SOILING  a:n^d  soilij^g  crops.  83 

Canada  field  corn,  or  some  good  variety  of  flint  corn,  as 
the  Sanford,  which  yields  an  abundance  of  fodder.  My 
own  preference,  after  several  years'  experience,  is  for 
Evergreen  sweet  corn,  which  meets  every  requirement 
[  of  the  case,  and  is  more  palatable  and  nutritious  than 
field  corn.  Some  of  the  ground  is  sown  at  the  earliest 
opportunity  in  the  spring  with  oats  or  barley  and  peas 
mixed,  two  and  a  half  bushels  of  the  former  with  one 
and  a  half  of  the  latter  per  acre.  This  crop  comes  in 
early  in  July  when  the  clover  is  exhausted,  or  is  ready 
for  cutting  for  hay.  Mangels  or  sugar  beets  are  planted 
late  in  May  or  early  in  June,  and  are  reserved  for  winter 
feeding,  the  tops  of  these  roots  being  the  last  green  food 
of  the  season.  The  surplus  of  all  these  crops  is  used  for 
winter  feeding,  or  a  separate  provision  for  the  purpose 
is  made  of  fodder  corn,  grass,  millet,  and  other  crops. 

For  the  purpose  of  procuring  a  large  quantity  of  but- 
ter in  the  milk,  which  is  advisable  in  every  branch  of 
the  dairy  business,  and  for  the  family  supply  as  well 
where  but  one  cow  is  kept,  some  of  the  concentrated  foods 
are  purchased.  A  proper  selection  of  these  foods  will  be 
made  in  reference  to  their  cost  and  feeding  value;  for  the 
market  values  are  very  often  less  and  sometimes  more 
than  the  feeding  value,  and  judgment  is  exercised  as 
?  economy  and  experience  may  dictate  in  the  choice  of 
'  these  foods.  Information  in  this  respect  is  given  in  the 
chapter  on  Foods.  As  a  rule,  bran  and  corn  meal  are 
the  best  staple  foods.  Pea  meal,  cotton  seed  meal,  malt 
sprouts,  brewers'  grains — when  they  can  be  kept  sweet — 
and  other  similar  foods  may  be  used  when  circumstances 
are  favorable. 

The  management  of  a  dairy  herd  under  the  soiling 
system  is  a  matter  of  oonsidorable  importance,  for  the 
cost  and  effective  results  depend  upon  It  toalarge  extent. 
The  author's  method  lia>  been  as  follows,  and  has  been 
found  economical  and  satisfactory  in  every  respect. 


84  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

The  buildings  ^yere  arranged  as  will  be  described  in 
the  chapter  on  Dairy  Barns  and  Buildings.  The  methods 
of  feeding  are  asiollows  :  The  first  crop  in  the  spring  is 
fall-sown  rye.  When  this  is  in  head  cutting  begins.  A 
one-horse  mower  is  taken  to  the  field,  and  two  days' 
supply  is  cut.  The  mower  is  left  in  the  field,  covered 
with  a  waterjDroof  sheet  for  protection.  A  cart  or 
liglit  wagon  for  the  one  horse  is  taken  to  the  field,  and 
the  supply  for  two  days  is  drawn  to  the  barn.  One 
day's  supply  is  always  kept  ahead  in  the  barn  and  one 
is  left  in  the  field  as  a  precaution  against  bad  weather. 
This  is  cut  at  night  the  first  day,  and  afterwards  each 
day's  cutting  is  left  in  the  field,  put  up  in  cocks  and  cov- 
ered with  a  large  hay  cap,  and  when  it  is  brought  into 
the  barn  another  cutting  is  made  and  left  ready.  The 
second  day's  feeding  is  thrown  into  a  heap  on  the  barn 
floor ;  it  will  heat  a  little,  but  this  is  beneficial  rather 
than  otherwise,  as  has  been  explained  in  the  previous 
chapter. 

The  fodder  is  cut  in  a  fodder  cutter ;  for  a  large  herd 
the  horse  or  the  bull  may  do  the  cutting,  a  tread-power 
being  kept  in  an  annex  to  the  barn,  with  a  shaft  or  belt 
passing  through  to  the  fodder  cutter  in  the  stable.  A 
large  feed-box- receives  the  cut  fodder.  This  is  wetted, 
the  water  being  procured  from  a  pump  connected  with  a 
cistern  or  well  or  spring,  as  the  case  may  be  ;  but  a  cis- 
tern is  preferable  and  most  economical,  being  supplied 
from  the  barn  roof.  The  grain  food  is  mixed  with  the 
wet  fodder.  This  is  kept  on  the  floor  above,  and  is  let 
down  by  a  spout  over  the  feed-box  which  is  closed  by  a 
draw  slide.  The  food  is  well  mixed  with  a  five-tined 
fork,  so  as  to  distribute  the  meal,  etc.,  evenly.  A  large 
grain  scoop  will  hold  enough  for  a  ration  for  a  cow. 
The  food  may  be  carried  to  the  feed  troughs  close  by 
in  the  scoop,  or  in  a  busliel  basket ;  one  heaped  bushel 
being  the  usual  ration  for  one  meal. 


SOILtKO  AKD   SOILING  CROPS.  85 

When  a  strip  a  few  rods  wide  is  cut  off,  the  land  is  at 
once  plowed  with  a  swivel  plow,  the  furrows  being  all 
turned  one  way.  To  avoid  heaping  up  the  soil  near  the 
fence,  an  open  furrow  is  first  plowed  a  few  feet  from  it, 
jind  then  closed,  leaving  the  surface  level ;  the  land  is 
then  plowed  close  to  the  fence — if  one  is  there — and  then 
the  other  land  is  turned,  leaving  no  open  furrow  or  back 
furrow,  as  the  furrows  are  all  turned  one  way.  Nar- 
ragansett  sweet  corn  is  then  planted,  with  the  Albany 
planter,  in  rows  twenty-seven  to  thirty  inches  apart,  the 
seed  being  dropped  about  twelve  inches  apart,  and  three 
to  five  grains  in  a  hill.  The  land  is  kept  well  cultivated 
to  keep  it  free  from  weeds,  and  to  help  the  crop.  A  boy 
of  eighteen  is  able  to  do  all  this  work  for  a  herd  of  thirty 
cows,  the  expense  being  no  more  than  his  wages.  The 
other  farm  work  is  done  by  the  ordinary  help ;  the  boy's 
work  being  to  cut  the  fodder,  feed  the  cows,  and,  with 
needed  help,  to  replant  the  crops  at  intervals  of  about  a 
week  or  less  ;  some  plowing  may  be  done  every  day. 
Thus  the  work  goes  on  all  summer. 

In  the  winter,  the  fodder  is  cut  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  stable,  and  the  cut  feed  is  dropped  down  a  large 
shoot  into  the  feeding  box  under  it  on  the  floor  below. 
The  large,  roomy  stable  has  ample  storage  for  hay  and 
fodder  above,  and,  as  it  is  connected  with  the  barn  and 
other  buildings,  the  fodder  is  easily  brought  to  the  sta- 
ble when  a  fresh  supj)ly  is  wanted.  The  roots  are  kept 
in  a  cellar  under  or  connected  with  the  barn,  and  for 
twenty  or  thirty  head,  or  less,  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to 
slice  a  sufficient  quantity  every  day  in  the  feed  box  with 
a  spade  ground  sharp  on  the  edge.  Half  a  bushel  daily 
is  the  regular  ration,  given  at  noon.  The  cut  roots  are 
sprinkled  with  the  usual  meal,  and  some  salt.  All  the 
stock  are  fed  in  the  same  manner;  the  bull  and  the 
young  heifers  having  their  proportionate  rations.  The 
bull  gets  the  same  as  a  cow,  being  kept  in  serving  condi- 


86  THE 

tion  at  all  times,  as  in  a  dairy  kept  for  full  profit,  and 
especially  for  fine  butter,  the  winter  should  be  the  most 
productiv^e  season.  The  slack  time  in  the  author's  dairy — 
kept  for  the  supply  of  fine  butter  for  sale  to  private  fam- 
ilies in  New  York  City — has  always  been  in  mid-summer, 
wiien  customers  are  usually  in  the  country,  and  away 
from  home.  This  gives  favorable  opportunity  for  attend- 
ing to  the  crops,  and  gives  a  rest  from  butter-making  at 
the  most  troublesome  season  of  the  year. 

The  disposal  of  the  manure  is  a  matter  of  importance 
in  this  system  of  dairying.  A  large  quantity  of  manure 
is  made,  as  the  cow^s  are  fed  in  the  stable  for  most  of  the 
time,  and  the  most  perfect  cleanliness  is  to  be  observed  in 
all  ways.  The  floor  of  the  stable  is  air  tight,  as  will  be 
described  hereafter.  The  gutter  is  kept  constantly  sup- 
plied with  absorbents  ;  dry  swamp  muck  dug  in  winter 
from  the  swamp  meadow  is  freely  used  ;  and  plaster — 
a  barrel  is  kept  in  the  stable  for  the  purpose — is  liberally 
scattered  in  the  gutter  and  on  the  floor  to  absorb  the 
ammoniacal  odor  which  would  otherwise  prevail.  Twice 
a  day  the  gutter  is  emptied  into  the  manure  cellar  under 
the  stable,  where  it  is  completely  covered,  at  short  in- 
tervals, with  swamp  muck,  already  stored  in  the  cellar 
for  the  purpose.  When  the  manure  is  wanted  for  the 
land,  which  is  quite  often,  it  is  remoyed  from  the  cellar, 
or  when  not  wanted  it  is  taken  to  the  fields,  and  is  piled 
w^ith  swamp  muck  and  a  liberal  sprinkling  of  lime  to 
make  compost. 

In  this  way  the  manure  is  never  offensive,  the  abun- 
dant use  of  plaster  keeping  the  cellar  and  stables  free 
from  odor,  and  the  cellar  floor  is  well  covered  every  time 
it  is  cleared.  As  the  growth  of  large  crops  requires 
abundance  of  manure,  there  is  rarely  ever  more  than  a 
load  or  two  m  the  cellar,  except  in  the  winter;  and  the 
supply  IS  scarcely  ever  sufficient,  but  needs  to  be  aug- 
mented by  a  good  deal  of  artificial  fertilizer. 


SOILING   AND   SOILING   CROPS.  ^^ 

The  yield  of  crops  under  this  system  is  about  as  fol- 
lows :  of  rye,  eiglit  tons  green  ;  of  sweet  corn,  early  kind, 
eight  to  twelve  tons  green,  two  and  one-half  to  three  dry; 
of  Evergreen  sweet  corn  twenty-four  tons  green,  five  to 
six  dry;  of  oats  and  peas,  eight  tons  green,  three  dry; 
of  millet,  eight  tons  green,  three  dry;  of  orchard 
grass,  three  tons  of  hay;  of  clover,  ten  tons  green, 
two  and  one-half  tons  of  hay,  and  more  in  favorable 
years,  the  second  growth  giving  at  least  one-half  as  much 
as  the  first  crop.  Mangels  yield  800  to  1,200  bushels  per 
acre  as  the  season  may  be  favorable,  and  sugar  beets — 
Lane's  Imperial,  which  is  a  large  growing  kind — yielding 
600  to  1,000  bushels.  The  French  sugar  beet  is  ex- 
tremely sweet,  but  is  small,  and  yields  only  300  to  400 
bushels  to  the  acre  ;  it  is  consequently  not  profitable. 

In  the  Southern  States,  soiling  can  be  carried  on  with 
the  greatest  profit.  There  are  several  crops  which  may 
be  grown  that  are  not  suitable  for  the  North.  Pearl 
millet,  teosinte,  cow  peas,  millet  (this  thrives  especially 
well),  Bermuda  grass  (this  affords  the  very  best  summer 
pasture,  and,  if  fertilized,  yields  an  enormous  quantity  of 
feed);  Festuca  j^ratensis  (Meadow  Fescue,  Eandall  grass 
or  Evergreen  grass)  grows  luxuriantly  and  makes  the 
best  pasture  ;  rye  may  often  be  pastured  all  the  winter  ; 
the  native  wild  grasses.  Crab  grass  {Eleusina  Inclica), 
Finger  grass  {Panicum  sanguinaU),  Barnyard  or  Door- 
yard  grass  (Panicum  crus-galU),  sprouting  Crab  grass 
[Paniciwi  j^roliferum),  Texas  millet,  Panicum  Texacum, 
and  the  common — far  too  common — beggars'  ticks  {Bi- 
dens  frondosa)y  and  the — also  too  common — beggars'  lice 
{Desmodium  7noUe),a\l  furnish  a  most  abundant  pasturage. 
The  large  amount  of  woods  pasturage,  containing  much 
grass  of  various  kinds  and  a  wealth  of  leaves  of  young  tim- 
ber, more  nutritive  than  any  grass  or  forage  plants,  also 
affords  excellent  subsistence  for  a  large  part  of  the  early 
portion  of  the  year;  while  for  winter  feeding,  with  hay  and 


88  THE  dairyman's  MANUAL. 

other  fodder,  the  abundant  sweet  potato  and  the  cheap 
cotton  seed  meal  make  the  very  best  substitute  for  the 
Northern  roots  and  grain  feed.  Butter  can  be  made  in 
the  South  for  ten  cents  a  pound,  more  easily  tbau  it  can 
be  for  twenty  cents  in  the  North;  and  the  markets  there 
are  far  better,  and  better  prices  can  be  obtained  than  in  any 
part  of  the  North,  excepting  in  some  of  the  largest  cities. 
Of  this  fact  the  author  can  speak  from  a  few  years'  per- 
sonal experience  in  the  Southern  States  upon  his  North 
Carolina  farm,  as  well  as  from  several  years  spent  in  the 
dairy  business  in  two  Northern  States. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 
ENSILAGE  OF  FODDER. 

About  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  ago  the  author,  then 
one  of  the  editors  of  the  American  Agriculturist,  wrote 
the  first  description  of  a  silo  for  the  preservation  of  green 
fodder  printed  in  America,  in  an  article  published  in 
that  paper,  the  pioneer  agricultural  journal  of  America. 
In  that  article  was  given  a  description  of  the  then  very 
imperfect  process  of  making  '^sour  hay"  from  corn 
stalks  which  were  buried  in  pits  in  the  ground  and 
covered  with  the  earth  taken  out.  Several  years  pre- 
viously (in  1855),  the  author,  then  traveling  in  Europe, 
saw  at  the  agricultural  school  at  Grignon,  and  at  a  large 
farm  attached  to  a  sugar  beet  factory,  a  number  of  silos 
of  the  same  rough  and  ready  character,  in  which  clover, 
lucern,  and  the  leaves  of  the  beet  were  preserved. 

This  practice  had  descended  from  the  ancient  Romans, 
who,  on  their  peaceful  Italian  farms,  thus  stored  their 
fodder  for  use  in  the  winter  season,  and  who,  as  was 
their  wont,  changing  the  plow  and  the  hoe  for  the  sword 
and  the  spear,  spread  over  Europe  a  conquering  host  of 


EKSILAGE  OF  FODDER.  89 

the  most  skillful  warriors,  and  carried  with  them  to  the 
conquered  countries  their  civilization  and  their  peaceful 
arts,  thus  laying  the  foundation  for  the  future  progress  of 
tliat  continent.  In  this  manner  the  silo  was  introduced 
i  first  among  the  Huns  in  Hungary,  and  then  into  Ger- 
many and  France,  where  it  remained  until  1872  in 
the  same  condition.  Then  M.  Groffart,  an  enterprising 
French  gentleman,  built  the  first  silo  of  masonry,  with 
solid  air-tight  walls,  and  a  covering  of  planks  weighted 
down  with  heavy  stone.  This  cover,  with  constant 
pressure,  is  the  great  improvement  made  by  M.  Goffart 
in  the  silo;  and  to  him  also  is  the  system  of  ensilage  in- 
debted for  the  practice  of  cutting  the  green  fodder  into 
short  lengths  so  as  to  cause  it  to  pack  more  solidly  in 
the  silo,  and  when  taken  out  to  be  in  convenient  form 
for  feeding.  When  this  form  of  silo  is  operated  expertly 
the  green  food  should  not  pass  beyond  the  saccharine 
stage  of  fermentation,  and  when  taken  from  the  silo  and 
exposed  to  the  air  the  alcoholic  fermentation  soon  begins. 
In  this  state  the  ensilage  (preserved  fodder)  is  in  its  best 
condition  for  feeding,  and  its  food  value  is  probably 
equal  to  what  it  would  have  been  at  the  time  of  packing 
in  the  silo — that  is,  the  changes  have  improved  its  di- 
gestibility as  much  as  fermentation  has  reduced  its 
weight  of  dry  substance. 

M.  Goffart  published  a  book  on  the  subject  which  was 
translated  and  published  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Brown,  of  New 
York  (President  of  the  New  York  Plow  Company,  and 
an  accomplished  farmer),  and  it  is  through  Mr.  Brown's 
unselfish  efforts  that  the  practice  became  extremely  popu- 
lar, and  in  time  reached  its  present  stage  and  condition. 

In  1879  Dr.  J.  M.  Bailey,  of  Billerica,  Mass.,  built  the 
first  double  silo  of  concrete  masonry,  and  stored  about 
125  tons  of  corn  ensilage,  which  gave  him  much  satisfac- 
tion in  feeding.  His  report  stimulated  inquiry  and  ex- 
periment in  the  new  process. 


90  THE   IDAIRYMAX^S  MAlfUAL. 

At  the  beginning  of  1880  this  process  was  much  dis- 
cussed by  tlie  agricultural  press  (following  the  lead  of 
the  Americaii  Agriculturist),  and  the  result  was  the 
building  of  some  fifty  or  more  silos  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  most  of  them  substantial,  and  many  of 
them  in  the  most  durable  form.  This  was  most  remark- 
able progress  for  a  new  system  to  make  in  a  single  season. 
Probably  8,000  tons  of  corn  ensilage  were  preserved. 
The  reports  from  these  various  experiments  were  nearly 
all  of  them  favorable,  many  of  them  very  enthusiastic, 
as  to  its  economy  and  value.  Some  very  extravagant 
estimates  were  made  as  to  the  tons  of  corn  raised  upon 
an  acre,  but  these  estimates  were  soon  reduced  to  solid 
fact  by  the  measurement  of  the  compressed  contents  of 
the  crops  in  the  silos.  Forty-six  pounds  were  found  to 
be  the  weight  of  a  cubic  foot  of  ensilage  after  compres- 
sion under  1,000  pounds  to  the  square  yard,  and  the 
content  of  the  silo  was  easily  measured,  and  thus  the 
peld  per  acre  determined.  The  yields  noted  ranged 
from  twenty  to  thirty- three  tons  of  green  corn  per  acre. 
Thirty  tons  may  be  considered  an  excellent  yield  of  green 
corn.  This  is  equal  to  about  five  tons  of  water-free  food, 
which  is  nearly  five  times  the  average  yield  of  dry  food 
per  acre  of  our  ordinary  meadows.  But  it  must  be  noted 
that  the  dry  food  of  corn  ensilage  is  not  as  valuable  per 
weight  as  that  from  meadow  grasses. 

Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  success  of  the  silos 
built  in  1880,  in  the  ensilage  of  green  corn,  was  very  re- 
markable, and  gave  this  new  system  a  respectable  stand- 
ing in  American  agriculture.  But  the  final  verdict  upon 
the  system  was  only  given  when  it  was  applied  practically 
to  the  preservation  of  meadow  grasses  and  thus  proved 
itself  worthy  of  being  considered  a  system  in  stock  feeding. 

The  cost  of  the  ensilage  at  that  time  was  found,  m 
practice,  t-o  be  from  sixty-six  to  seventy-five  cents  per  ton 
for  the  harvesting  and  putting  in  the  silo,  and  the  whole 


Ei5-SILAGE  OF  FODDER.  91 

cost  from  beginning,  to  the  ending  in  the  cow's  stomach, 
from  one  to  two  dollars  per  ton.  This  is  equivalent  to 
about  seven  dollars  per  ton  for  hay  in  the  barn,  at  the 
extreme  limit  in  disfavor  of  ensilage  and  in  favor  of  hay. 
The  result  was  found,  by  many  farmers  who  had  tried 
the  process  for  several  years,  to  be  that  one  cow  could  be 
fed  upon  a  ton  of  the  ensilage  per  month,  and  twelve 
tons  per  year;  thus  making  it  possible  to  feed  two  cows 
upon  one  acre  of  crop,  amounting  to  twenty-four  tons 
of  green  fodder  corn.  Corn  was  found  to  be  the  cheap- 
est but  not  the  best  fodder  for  this  purpose,  and  in  time 
other  crops  were  preserved  in  this  way,  such  as  clover, 
millet,  green  rye,  oats  and  peas ;  and  in  England,  whose 
moist  and  changeable  climate  favored  the  innovation 
very  much,  the  ordinary  field  grasses  were  thus  secured, 
wet  from  the  field,  in  a  safe  and  satisfactory  manner,  in- 
stead of  being  made  into  hay. 

The  antiquity  of  the  process  gives  security  that  it  may 
be  made  permanent,  and  removes  all  fear  that,  like  the 
abandoned  cooking  of  food,  it  might  be  found  impracti- 
cable for  ordinary  practical  use  by  farmers.  During  the 
past  few  years  the  practice  has  been  much  simplified, 
the  costly  and  cumbrous  stone  and  cement  silo  has  been 
adandoned,  and  a  common  barn  mow,  closed  tightly  with 
matched  boards  doubled,  and  building  paper  between, 
and  the  method  of  heating  the  fodder  by  spontaneous 
fermentation,  have  been  substituted  for  the  old  and  more 
laborious  system.  The  new  process  also  gets  rid  of  the 
acid  and  preserves  the  fodder  in  a  sweet  condition ;  the 
heat  of  the  fermentation  destroying  the  germs  which 
produce  acidity  and  to  some  extent  improving  the  fodder 
m  regard  to  its  digestibility. 

The  following  description  of  a  silo  is  given  by  Mr. 
B.  S.  Hoxie,  a  dairyman  in  Wisconsin. 

''If  the  silo  is  to  be  detached  from  the  barn,  make  a 
low  foundation  wall,  just  high  enougli  to  prevent  any 


92  THE   dairyman's  MAXtJAL. 

surface  water  ever  coming  in  contact  with  the  ensilage. 
Fill  up  the  floor  to  the  level  of  this  wall,  and  finish  off 
with  clay  well  pounded  down,  or  a  cement  of  water  lime. 
Next  lay  your  sills  of  two  by  eight  inch  joist,  flat  on  the 
wall,  and  bed  them  well  in  lime  mortar;  have  them  so 
firm  that  there  will  be  no  chance  to  spread  or  get  out  of 
place.  On  the  joists  place  two  by  eight  inch  studding 
sixteen  feet  long,  as  this  is  a  proper  hight  for  the  silo, 
and  sixteen  inches  from  center  to  center.  Toenail  firmly 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sill.  The  object  of  placing  the 
studding  this  distance  apart  is  to  accommodate  the 
width  of  tarred  paper,  for  a  perfect  silo  must  be  perfectly 
air-tight  on  sides  and  bottom.  Now  put  good  tarred 
paper  on  the  inside  of  the  studs,  lapping  as  it  will  So  as 
to  make  tight  work  ;  cover  with  good,  sound  matched 
flooring,  and  see  to  it  that  the  corners  are  made  secure, 
so  that  there  will  be  no  spread  or  give  to  let  in  the  air. 
Inclose  the  outside  surface  with  tarred  paper  same  as 
indide,  and  good  drop-lap  sidmg,  as  it  is  called,  or  any 
similar  method;  being  careful  to  make  it  tight  and  firm. 
The  roof  is  made  as  any  ordinary  barn  roof,  and  the 
building  may  be  finished  up  on  the  outside  to  suit  the 
owner's  fancy  or  pocket.  A  very  good  size  for  a  silo 
would  be  sixteen  by  thirty-two  feet,  or,  if  more  room  is 
needed,  make  it  longer  and  put  in  a  cross  partition  of 
plank.  This  partition  should  be  made  so  it  will  slip 
down  into  place  and  be  held  by  cleats  at  its  ends.  The 
sides  must  be  secured  with  one  or  more  iron  rods  to  keep 
the  building  from  spreading.  A  convenient  size  for  the 
door  would  be  four  feet  wide  in  one  end  and  made  in 
sections  of  two  feet  each,  sliding  down  in  grooves  so  as 
to  come  out  from  the  inside  as  the  silo  is  emptied.  These 
doors,  as  well  as  all  inside  work,  must  be  made  so  as  to 
form  no  obstruction  to  the  settling  of  the  fodder,  with 
the  boards  and  tarred  pai)er  which  form  the  cover  to 
the  pit.     This  is  one  of  the  cheapest  methods  of  con- 


•       E2?"SILAGE    OF  FODDER.  93 

struction,  and  is  essentially  as  good  a  one  as  can  be  built. 
If  a  farmer  has  stone  handy  he  can  bnild  one  of  solid 
masonry,  but  it  would  not  keep  out  the  frost  or  air  better 
than  one  of  \vood.  One  end  of  a  bay  in  the  barn  can  be 
used,  by  observing  the  same  precautions  to  have  it  air- 
tight."' 

The  experience  of  Mr.  John  Gould,  of  Aurora,  Ohio,  a 
most  intelligent,  practical  and  well-known  dairyman,  is 
given  as  follows  : 

*'  The  corn  plant  is  the  great  ensilage  forage,  as  it  is 
of  sure  growth,  and  in  all  seasons,  wet  or  dry,  can  be  de- 
pended upon  for  a  fair  product,  and  in  average  years  will 
give  more  than  twice  as  many  tons  per  acre  as  any  other 
crop  that  can  be  matched  against  it.  Another  point  in 
progress  is  in  recognizing  the  fact  that  the  corn  plant 
grows  to  develop  an  ear  of  gram,  and  if  it  is  deprived  of 
this  function  by  overcrowding,  it  has  no  aim  in  life,  and 
refuses  to  gather  up  rich  stores  of  sugar,  starch,  and 
other  elements  out  of  which  to  perfect  the  ear.  So  we 
can  safely  put  the  difference  in  feeding  value  between  a 
dwarfed,  crowded  stalk  of  corn  with  no  ear,  or  no  at- 
tempt to  produce  one,  at  about  one-third  that  of  another, 
that  had  more  room,  and  has  brought  its  ear  to  the 
'  roasting  '  stage.  Instead  of  sowing  broadcast  two  and 
three  bushels  of  corn  (168  lbs.),  one-half  bushel  (28  lbs.) 
will  be  ample  if  drilled  in  rows  three  and  a  half  feet 
apart.  The  result  will  be  that  the  weight  of  fodder  and 
ears  will  exceed  that  of  a  field  sown  with  from  112  to 
168  lbs.,  and  possess  fully  three  times  its  feeding  value. 
Maturity  is  another  essential  in  good  ensilage.  The  half- 
grown  crop  is  little  better  than  a  mass  of  cellular  tissue, 
filled  with  water;  but  the  mature  crop  has  brought  the 
food  elements  forward  to  perfection.  So  we  find  that 
the  time  of  greatest  food  value  is  when  the  crop  has 
begun  to  glaze,  as  it  then  has  the  sugar  element  present 
in  abundance  to  aid  in  its  preservation.     If  properly  put 


94  THE   DAIRY3IAX'S   MAXUAL. 

up,  the  fodder  becomes  canned  green-corn  fodder,  and 
not  the  eu silage  of  the  past — soggy,  sour  and  rank-smell- 
ing material,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  made  of  matter 
that  underwent  great  change  chemically,  because  devoid 
of  preserving  qualities. 

^'The  silo  has  also  made  a  great  advance  towards 
simplicity  and  cheapness,  and  any  farmer  can  now 
have  a  silo  ;  for  tliey  are  no  longer  classed  as  the  rich 
man's  mouopoly.  The  best  silos  are  now  built  wholly 
of  wood  above  ground,  building  the  frame  of  two 
by  ten  inch  studding.  The  inside  lining  is  made  of 
two  thicknesses  of  inch  boards,  with  tarred  paper  be- 
tween, or  it  may  be  lathed  and  plastered,  using  cement 
instead  of  white  lime.  The  outside  is  covered  with  ship- 
lap  siding.  This  leaves  a  dead -air  space,  which  should 
not  be  filled  in  with  sawdust.  The  contents  of  a  silo 
will  not  freeze  in  any  Northern  State,  and  the  sawdust 
will — if  filled  in — ^gather  moisture  from  being  between 
the  warm  ensilage  on  the  one  side  and  the  colder  outer 
air  on  the  other,  and  is  a  damage  rather  than  a  benefit. 
In  localities  where  small  stones  and  sand  are  abundant, 
it  may  be  best  to  build  concrete  walls  for  the  silo.  They 
maybe  rough-faced  on  the  inside,  with  strips  of  wood  set 
up,  and  a  lining  put  on  to  make  an  air-space  and  afford 
better  protection  from  the  influence  of  the  walls.  Or  the 
walls  may  be  cement-faced.  Of  whatever  material  the 
silo  is  built,  the  walls  must  ba  perpendicular  and  smooth- 
faced, so  that  the  ensilage  shall  not  be  resisted  in  settling. 
The  silo,  however,  must  be  strong  enough  to  withstand 
the  lateral  pressure  of  the  ensilage.  If  built  of  timber, 
two  by  ten  inch  studding,  set  sixteen  inches  apart,  will 
be  none  too  strong,  especially  if  the  silo  is  sixteen  feet  in 
depth.  Xow  that  more  mature  fodder  is  put  up,  there 
seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  dej^th  of  ensilage  that  can 
be  safely  stored,  as  there  is  no  pressing-out  of  the  juice 
of  the   fodder,  as  was   once  the  result  of  deep  filling. 


EKSILAGE   OF   FODDER.  95 

Twenty  feet  will  probably  be  the  practical  limit  in 
depth.  The  silo  should  be  so  built  that  surface  water 
can  not  come  in  from  the  bottom,  as  air-proof  walls  and 
a  water-tight  and  air-proof  bottom  are  the  first  two  es- 
sentials in  silo  building.  The  best  way  is  to  put  in  cross- 
sills  two  by  ten  inches,  to  tie  the  footing  of  the  studding, 
and  after  the  silo  is  built  fill  in  between  these  sills  with 
water-lime  and  small  stones,  raising  it  an  inch  or  so 
above  the  level  of  sills,  making  a  smooth  level  floor. 

**The  silo  should  be  twice  as  long  as  wide,  and  at  least 
twelve  to  sixteen  feet  deep.  This  enables  it  to  be  filled 
without  delay,  and  also  insures  the  cooMng  of  the  fodder, 
which  is  now  considered  essential.  The  silo  needs  a 
partition,  dividing.it  into  equal-sized  rooms.  An  ensi- 
lage cutter  is  provided  with  a  carrier  which  hoists  the 
cut  fodder  up  over  the  walls  into  the  pits.  The  plan  is 
to  cut  into  one  pit  one  day,  say  from  twelve  to  twenty 
tons  of  green  fodder,  and  by  slightly  turning  the  upper 
end  of  the  carrier,  deposit  the  next  day's  cutting  into 
pit  No.  2.  It  is  not  necessary  to  tread  or  tramp  the  cut 
fodder,  only  to  keep  it  level  in  the  boxes.  The  tramping 
should  be  done  along  the  side  and  corners,  to  make  the 
sides  settle  as  fast  as  the  center.  No  more  fodder  should 
be  added  until  the  first  filling  has  reached  a  temperature 
of  125  degrees,  when  another  layer  should  be  added. 
This  is  the  cooking  process.  The  addition  of  cold,  fresh 
ensilage  reduces  the  temperature  of  the  first  to  about 
eighty  degrees,  audit  cannot  re-heat,  or  ferment,  unless 
it  is  again  exposed  to  the  oxygen  of  the  air.  This  alter- 
nate filling  and  heating  goes  on  until  the  pits  are  full. 
The  heating  has  rarified  the  air  that  was  mixed  in  with 
the  ensilage,  causing  it  to  escape  upward,  and  a  very 
dilute  gas  takes  its  place.  The  heating  has  also  caused 
the  ensilage  to  settle  very  compactly;  and  at  last,  when 
the  pits  are  full,  it  is  only  necessary  to  let  the  last  day's 
filling  heat  up^  and  then  level  off  the  surface  of  the  silage, 


96  THE    DAIRYMAX's   MANUAL. 

cover  it  with  strips  of  tarred  paper  well  lapped,  and 
coyer  this  with  common  rough  inch  lumber.  This  will 
keep  out  the  air,  and  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  weight 
this  cover  with  a  ton  or  two  of  hay,  sawdust,  or  even 
moist  clay,  to  insure  the  cover  remaining  firmly  upon  the 
mass  beneath  as  it  settles,  and  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
the  air.  Within  three  weeks  the  mass  will  cool  down  to 
about  eighty  degrees,  where  it  will  remain — a  fact  that 
guarantees  it  from  danger  of  freezing.  When  ready  to 
feed,  remove  the  cover  entirely  from  one  pit,  and  feed 
evenly  from  the  surface.  It  is  not  advisable  to  open 
the  door  at  the  side  of  a  silo  all  the  way  to  the  bottom, 
and  begin  to  shovel  it  from  the  floor.  ■  This  lets  the  air 
into  the  side  of  the  ensilage,  and  it  commences  to  re-heat. 
We  have  knowledge  of  two  farmers  at  least  who  opened 
at  the  side,  and  came  very  near  losing  the  entire  contents 
of  a  pit,  and  only  saved  it  by  prompt  leveling  down  of 
the  ensilage,  and  tramping  it  very  hard  and  restoring  it 
to  a  level.  The  side  door  to  a  silo  should  be  made  in 
sections  of  about  eighteen  inches  each;  these  can  be  re- 
moved one  by  one,  as  the  surface  level  is  lowered  by 
feeding.  A  great  many  silos  are  now  built  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  big  barn,  using  a  whole  or  part  of  a  bay. 
Nearly  five  times  as  much  forage  can  be  put  into  a  given 
space  in  the  form  of  ensilage  as  can  be  stored  in  the  same 
space  if  the  crop  is  dried — fifty  cubic  feet  of  ensilage  ^ 
weighing  a  ton — 500  feet  or  more  are  requisite  for  a  ton 
of  hay. 

'^  The  value  of  ensilage  as  a  stock  ration  is  now  undis- 
puted. Nor  can  it  be  longer  nrged  that  it  has,  if  put  np 
'  sweet,'  or  reasonably  so,  any  deleterious  effect  upon 
milk  or  butter.  The  great  question  is  :  How  can  we  get 
it  into  the  silo  the  cheapest  and  best  ?  The  concurrent 
testimony  of  the  great  ensilage  feeders  is  that  the  crop 
can  be  grown,  harvested,  and  put  into  the  silo  for  81.25 
per  ton,  all  legitimate  expenses  included.     And  three 


DAIRY   BUILDINGS.  97 

tons  of  ensilage  having  the  full  feeding  value  of  one 
ton  of  the  best  hay,  and  a  crop  of  from  twenty  to  thirty 
tons  of  fodder  corn  per  acre  being  an  every-season's  occur- 
rence, the  vital  question  now  coming  up  to  be  decided  is: 
'  Why  should  we  continue  to  feed  expensive  hay  to  our 
cattle  and  sheep,  when  we  can,  under  average  conditions, 
supply  of  ''  roughage  "  ample  in  amount  to  an  animal  for 
three  cents  per  day?'  And  if  we  add  four  or  five  cents 
more  for  bran,  to  make  a  perfectly  balanced  ration,  we 
have  a  food  for  our  stock  that  in  cheapness  equals  sum- 
mer pasturage." 

This  may  be  supposed  to  be  somewhat  enthusiastic 
and  overdrawn,  but  the  fact  that  the  practice  is  rapid- 
ly spreading  among  practical  dairymen  who  run  their 
dairies  for  their  daily  bread,  and  has  never  been  aban- 
doned by  any  who  have  tried  it,  gives  good  evidence,  and 
the  best  of  all  proof,  that  it  is  both  useful  and  economical. 


CHAPTEE    IX. 

DAIRY   BUILDINGS. 

The  buildings  for  a  dairy  farm  must  be  arranged  skill- 
fully for  ease,  convenience,  and  the  best  effective  results 
in  the  business.  The  barn  for  the  storage  of  grain  and 
fodder  for  winter  feeding  is  not  necessary  for  a  dairy, 
the  accommodation  of  the  cov/s  being  of  the  most  impor- 
tance, and  the  grain  to  be  stored  being  usually  of  minor 
consideration.  The  points  to  be  considered  are  the 
comfort  of  the  cows,  the  easy  maintenance  of  perfect 
cleanliness,  the  convenient  handling  and  distribution  of 
th9  food,  economy  of  room,  and  facility  for  ingress  and 
egress  to  every  part  of  the  buildings.  My  cow  stable, 
built  after  several  years'  experience  and  with  a  view  to 


98 


THE    DAIRYMAX  S   MAXUAL. 


securing  all  the  points  above  mentioned,  and  which  has 
been  found  very  convenient  and  satisfactory  in  every 
way,  IS  arranged  as  follows : 

The  mam  building  is  fifty  feet  by  twenty-four,  and  is 
intended  to  hold  thirty  cows  in  two  rows;  but  so  far  only 
fifteen  have  been  kept  in  it  on  one  side,  leaving  a  wide 
feeding  passage,  through  which  a  one-horse  wagon  or 
light  cart  can  be  driven  with  loads  of  green  fodder  used 
in  the  summer  when  soiling  the  cows.    Along  the  middl*} 


n  □   D 

D 

s 

,    ^L_ 

IlillllllMI  II 1 

— — p— '     Q 

;  c 

1      HO 

o       C      ©                   O        O       d 

L 

0       0      o               o       o      o 

I      M     1 

Or^^Uar-a.       . 

Fig.  9.— PLAN    OF   cow   STABLE,  YARD,  kTSTD  PENS. 

of  the  barn  is  the  feeding  trough,  eighteen  inches  wide, 
and  the  feeding  floor,  B,  is  on  the  north  side  of  it.  Then 
comes  the  platform  for  the  cows,  C  (figure  9).  This  is 
five  feet  wide,  and  slopes  two  inches  in  this  distance  to 
keep  the  floor  dry.  Back  of  this  is  a  manure  gutter,  : 
fourteen  inches  wide  and  eight  inches  deep,  and  then  a^ 
walking  platform  four  and  a  half  feet  wide,  making  up 
in  all  half  of  the  width  of  the  barn-.     The  southern  wall 


DAIRY   BUILDINGS.  99 

has  broad  windows,  four  feet  apart,  the  whole  length, 
that  let  in  a  flood  of  sunlight  in  which  the  cows  bask 
in  comfort  when  the  rough  winds  of  winter  howl'with- 
out.  Tliese  windows  are  furnished  with  green  house- 
blinds  for  protection  against  the  sun  in  the  summer,  and. 
are  furnished  with  wire  screens  to  exclude  flies  and  admit 
air,  when  in  the  warm  weather  the  lower  parts  of  the  win- 
dows are  removed.  The  stable  is  then  darkened,  and  by 
the  observance  of  cleanliness  and  the  liberal  use  of  Persian 
insect  powder,  the  cows  are  able  to  rest  in  peace  during 
the  middle  and  hottest  hours  of  the  day,  lying  unmolested 
and  making  milk  liberally  in  return  for  the  comforts 
afforded . 

There  is  a  manure  cellar  under  the  whole  barn,  and 
the  gutter  is  emptied  by  trap  doors  in  it.  The  floor  is 
double  and  water-tight,  and  a  coat  of  tar  is  laid  between 
the  two  plankings.  The  cellar  is  closed  in  by  windows 
and  tight  doors,  so  that  the  stable  is  kept  free  from  cold 
drafts  in  this  direction.  The  whole  building  is  air-tight, 
and  the  upper  floor  is  of  matched  boards,  so  that  in  the 
coldest  weather  the  manure  in  the  gutter  does  not  freeze. 
The  broad,  roomy  feeding  floor  is  occupied  by  a  fodder 
cutter,  meal  bins,  and  a  large  feed  box  for  mixing  feed. 
A  pump,  connected  with  both  a  cistern  and  a  spring, 
stands  near  the  feed  trough.  On  the  west  side  of  the  barn 
is  a  building,  D,  occupied  as  horse  stable,  carriage  and 
v^'agon  house,  tool  and  store  room.  This  has  a  door  on 
the  south  end  and  a  passageway  from  it  past  the  stables 
and  through  the  other  places  to  the  cow  barn.  At  the 
other  end  of  the  cow  barn  are  the  large  doors  opening 
into  an  open  shed  connecting  with  the  calf  pens  and  bull 
pen  and  yard,  and  the  small  door  for  the  entrance  and 
exit  of  the  cows.  The  yard,  E,  is  provided  with  a  long 
water  trough,  supplied  from  a  pump  connected  with  a 
spring  near  by.  This  trough  is  pivoted  at  the  ends  in 
frames,  so  that  when  not  in  use  it  is  turned  bottom  up- 


100  THE    dairyman's   MANUAL. 

ward  and  kept  free  from  snow  and  ice.  The  yard  is  on 
high  ground  and  the  water  is  carried  from  all  the  build- 
ings into  cisterns,  so  that  the  yard  is  always  dry. 

The  cows  stand  fastened  in  short  stalls  by  means  of 
chains  stretched  across  the  front  of  the  stalls  and  having 
a  ring  at  each  end,  which  slides  on  long  iron  bars  in  the  .^ 
stanchions,  and  a  ring  and  snap  hook  in  the  middle. 
The  cows  have  strong  leather  straps  around  their  necks, 
with  a  ring  fastened  in  each.  This  ring  is  fastened  to 
the  snap  hook  in  an  instant,  and  the  cow  can  move  her 
head  very  freely,  but  cannot  reach  over  into  the  next  stall 
to  rob  her  neighbor  or  punch  her.  The  feed  trough  is 
also  divided  by  a  prolongation  of  the  partition  of  the 
stall,  so  as  to  confine  each  cow's  food  to  herself.  A 
sloping  board  along  the  front  of  the  feed  trough  guides 
the  cut  feed  emptied  from  the  feed  basket,  which  holds 
a  bushel,  into  each  section.  It  is  a  very  few  minutes' 
work  to  mix  the  cut  hay  or  fodder,  prepared  the  night 
before,  with  the  water  and  the  meal  in  the  feed  box  and 
distribute  a  basket  of  it  to  each  cow\  We  have  done  this 
easily  before  breakfast  in  fifteen  minutes,  feeding  the 
whole  fifteen  cows,  and  the  bull  and  several  calves  besides. 
This  arrangement  provides  everything  convenient  for  the 
cows  .and  the  owner,  and  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired. 
There  is  ample  room  for  work,  for  the  cows,  and  for  the 
feed.  The  floor  is  dry,  warm,  and  easily  kept  clean  and 
free  from  odor.  The  gutters  are  emptied  very  quickly,' 
swT-pt  out  with  a  stiff  broom — of  the  kind  used  for  city 
streets,  and  which  fits  the  gutter — dusted  freely  with 
plaster  from  a  barrel  kept  on  the  floor  at  the  far  end, 
and  is  at  once  littered  with  clean  sawdust,  leaves,  or  cut 
straw  from  the  storeroom  at  tlie  end  of  the  stable.  Ven- 
tilation IS  provided  when  it  is  needed  by  opening  the 
windows  a  trifle  at  the  top  or  bottom,  or  by  opening 
slides  in  the  wall  opposite  the  cows.  A  ventilating  shaft, 
which  can  be  closed  in  stormy  weather,  also  aids  in  re- 


DAIHY   BUILDIXGS.  101 

moving  any  disagreeable  air  which  may  gather  ;  but  on 
entering  the  stable  in  the  mornmg  there  is  nothing  of 
this  kind  perceptible. 

The  cows,  trained  to  it,  walk  into  the  stable  and  take 
their  proper  places  without  trouble,  when  they  are  fas- 
tened from  the  other  side  of  the  feed  trough,  where  a 
partition  three  feet  high  closes  in  the  stall,  and  they  can 
be  let  loose  in  the  same  way.  When  the  weather  is  too 
rough  the  cows  are  watered  in  the  stalls  from  the  pump 
in  the  stable.  At  other  times  the  cows  are  turned  out  in 
the  yard  for  water  and  for  a  run  of  two  or  three  hours, 
or  they  may  lie  in  the  open  shed,  which  is  well  littered 
with  dry  leaves  from  the  wood  lot. 

This  arrangement  has  been  the  result  of  a  gradual 
growth  of  practice  and  experience  during  many  years, 
and  has  been  found  satisfactory,  with  perhaps  one  ex- 
ception, and  that  is  the  addition  of  a  silo  for  preserving 
green  fodder  for  use  in  the  winter.  This,  however,  we 
look  upon  more  in  the  light  of  an  experiment  to  be  tried, 
as  with  a  roomy  cellar  under  a  part  of  the  barn  for  man- 
gels and  beets,  which  are  used  in  the  winter,  a  silo  may 
be  easily  dispensed  with. 

The  plan  of  the  stable  is  shown  at  figure  9.  The 
main  building  is  the  central  part,  and  every  other 
part  can  be  reached  by  the  outer  door,  i/,  which  is  next 
to  the  dwelling.  Near  this  door  is  the  cow's  hospital,  /, 
where  calving  animals  are  kept  for  a  few  days  until  ready 
to  go  in  the  dairy.  The  open  shed  is  at  A,  and  a  door 
leads  from  this  into  the  feeding  floor,  and  from  this  a 
door  leads  outside  into  the  pasture  and  another  into  the 
buildings,  D,  The  bull  pen  and  yard  are  at  F,  and  the 
separate  calf  pens  at  G.  A  gate  is  made  in  the  end  calf 
pen  through  which  the  cows  may  go  at  times  into  the 
field  in  the  rear.  At  H  is  the  manure  shed  with  feeding 
racks  near  it.  The  outer  yard  is  at  K,  A  large  gate 
affords  entrance  into  this  yard  and  through  the  lane,  L, 


102  THE   DAIRYMAis^'S   MANUAL. 

into  the  road  and  the  fields  across  it,  as  shown  in  figure  1. 
1'he  numerous  doors  and  gates  are  made  self-closing  b}- 
means  of  springs j  so  that  accidents  (?)  from  neglected 
open  doors  cannot  happen.  A  number  of  hay  and  fodder 
barracks  are  at  the  rear  of  the  stable,  in  the  field  which 
is  within  easy  reach. 

St.a  ble  Floors. — The  most  important  part  of  the  stable 
is  the  floor.  As  a  rule,  the  earth  is  the  best  floor  for  a 
stable  of  any  kind.  If  it  is  hard  enough,  a  firm  clay  or 
gravel,  it  will  soon  become  so  solid  .as  to  need  no  repair. 
But  it  is  not  often  the  case  that  such  a  naturally  solid  floor 
can  be  found.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  reinforce  it  by 
some  covering  of  concrete  or  cement.  This  is  done  as  fol- 
lows: The  floor  is  first  graded  in  a  suitable  manner  to  the 
gutter;  two  inches  in  four  and  a  half  or  fi^e  feet,  which  is 
the  right  width  of  a  floor  for  cows,  is  a  sufficient  slope. 
The  most  of  this  slope  should  be  made  near  the  gutter, 
where  it  is  most  required.  The  floor  is  then  covered 
with  a  mixed  concrete  of  sand  and  gravel,  wdth  common 
lime  first  properly  slaked  and  well  worked  together  with 
a  hoe,  and  left  in  a  heap  after  warking  once  a  day  for 
several  days.  This  makes  it  tough  and.  durable.  Some 
coal  ashes  well  worked  in,  after  being  wetted,  makes  the 
concrete  still  more  durable.  Sawdust,  first  soaked  with 
water,  also  adds  to  the  strength  of  the  concrete,  and 
plenty  of  short  straw  will  have  the  same  effect.  Good, 
tough  clay,  worked  well  into  a  stiff  puddle  with  sawdust 
or  short  straw,  or  both,  makes  a  good  material  for  a 
stable  floor.  Hydraulic  cement,  in  the  proportion  of  one 
barrel  to  three  barrels  of  sharp  sand,  and  five  or  six 
barrels  of  coarse  gravel,  makes  the  best  and  most  durable 
floor,  and  if  saturated  with  hot  gas-tar  will  be  com- 
pletely water-proof  and  rat-proof.  The  work  is  don*  as 
follows:  The  common  lime  is  properly  slaked  in  the 
usual  manner;  after  it  is  cold  the  sand  is  worked  in  as 
for  building  mortar;  twice  its  bulk  of  coal  ashes  or  coarse 


DAIRY   BUILDIifGS.  103 

gravel,  first  wetted,  is  then  well  worked  in.  The  more 
it  is  worked  with  the  hoe  and  shovel,  and  left  in  a  heap, 
the  tougher  it  becomes. 

For  a  clay  floor,  the  clay  is  worked  up  with  a  hoe  in 
the  same  way,  coal  ashes,  gravel  and  short  straw  being 
worked  in  until  a  stiff  mass  is  made.  For  a  cement 
floor,  the  cement  is  mixed  dry  with  three  times  its 
measure  of  dry,  clean  sand,  and  is  then  wetted  and  made 
into  a  thin  mortar,  to  which  is  added  the  coarse  gravel 
wet.  Only  as  much  is  mixed  as  can  be  spread  at  one 
time  and  within  fifteen  minutes,  as  it  sets  and  hardens 
very  quickly.  As  any  one  of  these  materials  is  spread  it 
is  well  rammed  and  beaten  down,  with  a  rammer  made 
out  of  a  round  log,  and  the  handles  set  into  holes  bored 
with  a  one  and  one-quarter  inch  auger. 

After  the  floor  is  spread  it  is  smoothed  over  with  a 
plank.  Water  is  poured  on,  if  necessary,  and  the  more 
the  surface  is  rubbed  the  better  it  will  be.  If  any  one 
of  these  floors  is  finished  Avith  the  gas-tar  it  will  be  found 
very  serviceable — the  odor  tends  to  keep  all  sorts  of  ver- 
min at  a  distance,  and,  as  it  will  not  absorb  the  liquid 
manure,  is  easily  kept  clean. 

A  very  excellent  floor  is  made  of  round  stone  well 
rammed  into  the  ground,  and  covered  with  a  coating  of 
mortar  of  either  of  the  kinds  described  above,  then  well 
rubbed  over  and  finished  with  the  gas-tar. 

The  gutters  should  have  a  fall  to  the  outlet  of  the 
stable,  where  the  liquid  manure  can  drain  into  a  manure 
pit;  or  the  gutter  should  be  kept  well  filled  with  some 
dry  absorbent  or  litter,  as  chaff,  leaves,  straw,  pine  straw, 
or  dry  muck  from  a  swamp.  It  is  an  excellent  thing  to 
bring  in  the  manure  from  the  horse  stables  and  put  in  the 
gutters  to  absorb  the  liquid,  which  is  more  abundant  in 
cow  stables,  and  so  to  mix  the  two  and  thus  improve 
both.  When  the  cow  stable  has  a  cellar  under  it  the 
floor  must  be  of  plank.     To  make  this  floor  in  the  best 


104 


THE   DAIRYMAN'S   MANTAL. 


manner,  it  should  be  double  and  laid  with  a  gutter  in  it. 
The  planks  are  necessarily  laid  crossing  the  beams, 
but  to  prevent  drip  into  the  cellar,  and  to  save  all  the 
liquid,  the  planks  should  be  laid  double,  with  the  joints 
broken.  To  make  the  floor  in  the  very  best  manner, 
and  quite  water-tight  and  most  durable,  the  first  one 
should  be  well  coated  with  hot  tar,  and  the  upper  planks 
laid  in  this,  getting  the  joints  filled  with  the  tar.     A 


Fig.    10.— PLAN  OF   STANDING   FLOOR. 

floor  so  laid  will  last  for  twenty  years,  or  three  times  as 
long  as  any  other.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  give  a  plank 
floor  a  coat  of  whitewash  under  and  on  the  top  once  a 
year,  as  the  lime  prevents  decay.  A  floor  thus  treated 
would  probably  remain  sound  as  long  as  the  rest  of  the 
building.  Such  a  plank  floor  should  slope  the  same  as 
any  other,  excepting  that  the  gutter  may  be  level,  as  the 
manure  will  be  emptied  through  trap-doors  into  the  cel- 
lar below.  The  manure  is  easily  removed  by  drawing  it 
forward  to  the  doors  with,  a  broad  hoe,  when  it  falls, 
without  further  trouble.  The  plan  of  a  stable  floor  is 
shown  at  figure  10. 

The  next  matter  of  impoi'tance  is  the  yard.     A  yard 
must  be  roomy.     For  twenty-five  cows,  half  an  acre  is 


DAIRY   BUILDIKGS.  105 

not  too  much.  This  space  gives  ample  room  for  the 
cows  to  be  safe  from  the  attacks  of  the  master  animals, 
who  are  always  exceedingly  spiteful  to  the  weaker  ones. 
It  gives  ample  room  for  fodder  racks,  for  a  milking  shed, 
for  a  manure  pit,  and  for  watering  troughs,  which  can 
be  used  safely  by  the  weak  cows.  No  other  animals 
should  be  permitted  in  the  yard. 

In  the  center  is  the  manure  pit,  to  be  hereafter  de- 
scribed; at  each  end  of  this  is  a  watering  trough,  to  be 
supplied,  if  possible,  by  a  pipe  from  a  spring,  or  from  a 
cistern  and  a  force  pump.  Around  the  yard  are  fodder 
and  straw  racks,  in  which  the  roughness  or  coarse  feed 
is  given.  At  one  corner  is  a  milking  shed,  in  which  the 
cows  are  tied  for  milking,  or  where  they  may  find  shelter 
from  a  rain.  It  will  be  a  great  advantage  if  the  yard  is 
shaded  by  trees  planted  around  it,  as  shelter  from  the 
winds  as  well  as  the  sun,  for  the  yard  will  be  needed  in- 
the  summer  as  well  as  in  the  winter. 

The  manure  pit  should  be  sunk  about  two  feet  below 
the  stirface,  and  this  should  be  kept  filled  with  litter,  as 
forest  leaves,  pine  straw,  swamp  muck,  etc.,  and  it  should 
be  surrounded  with  a  stone  wall,  or  a  log  fence,  four  leet 
high,  having  a  driveway  at  each  end  for  the  purpose  of 
admitting  a  wagon  for  the  removal  of  the  manure.  A 
drain,  covered— without  exception— should  lead  from 
the  gutter  in  the  stable  to  this  pit,  to  convey  the  liquid 
iiianure.  The  solid  manure  and  litter  are  wheeled  out 
from  tlie  stable  to  the  pit  at  each  morning  cleaning  of 
the  stable.  If  possible — and  it  should  always  be  an  object 
to  do  this — as  much  litter  and  waste  matter  as  can  be 
gathered  should  be  spread  over  the  manure,  as  an  absorb- 
ent of  the  liquid,  and  to  add  to  the  bulk. .  Every  week  a 
liberal  apphcation  of  plaster  should  be  scattered  over  the 
manure  to  absorb  and  combine  with  the  odors  of  the 
decomposing  mass.  This  completely  prevents  all  offen- 
sive odor,  and  adds  much  to  the  value  of  the  manure. 


106  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

The  pit  should  not  be  covered,  as  it  will  need  all  the  rain 
which  will  fall  upon  it  to  keep  it  moist  enough  to  pre- 
vent fire  fanging  or  dry  rot,  which  utterly  destroys  the 
value  of  manure.  No  water  from  the  buildings  should 
flow  into  this  pit,  but  the  yard  should  be  graded  so  as  to 
give  easy  drainage  of  the  surface  water  into  the  manure 
pit,  where  it  will  be  absorbed,  and  a  few  holes  should  be 
left  in  the  wall  to  allow  this  water  to  dram  m. 

The  yard  will  then  be  kept  dry  and  free  from  mud. 
To  add  to  the  sujDply  of  manure,  and  to  cover  the  drop- 
pings, the  whole  yard  should  be  kept  deeply  littered. 
Green  weeds  from  bottom  lands  and  swamps,  leaves,  and 
any  other  coarse  matter  which  can  be  procured  m  any 
way  should  be  thus  used.  If  this  can  not  be  done,  the 
droppings  should  be  gathered  up  with  a  shovel  and  a 
wheelbarrow  and  thrown  into  the  manure  pit,  but  in 
whatever  way  it  is  done,  the  5"ard  mnst  be  kept  clean. 
It  will  be  a  saving  of  labor  in  keeping  the  cows  clean, 
and  very  much  lighten  the  use  of  the  card  and  tlie  brush 
for  this  purpose.  If  the  yard  cannot  be  located  on*high 
and  dry  ground,  and  there  is  any  danger  of  mud  in  wet 
weather,  it  should  be  drained,  and  the  drains  made  to 
discharge  in  some  convenient  way  into  a  field,  where  the 
water  can  be  spread  over  grass  or  some  other  crop,  or  be 
usefully  employed  in  other  ways. 

The  water  troughs  should  be  made  tight  so  as  to  pre- 
vent leakage,  which  will  make  the  ground  muddy,  and 
should  be  provided  Av^ith  some  means  to  carry  off  the 
overflow.  They  should  be  provided  with  covers  where- 
ever  snow  will  fall  and  choke  them  or  chill  the  water, 
and  these  covers  should  always  be  let  down  when  the 
cows  are  not  in  the  yard.  By  providing  cisterns  to  (^atch 
all  the  roof  water,  an  ample  supply  will  be  procured,  and 
rain  water  is  the  purest  and  best  for  the  use  of  dairy 
cows.  To  keep  the  roof  water  pure,  it  is  well  to  have 
the  roofs  painted,  especially  when  oak  or  chestnul/  shin- 


DAIRY   BUILDmOS.  107 

gles  are  used,  as  these  stain  the  water  a  dark  color,  and 
give  it  an  objectionable  taste,  so  that  the  cows  will  not 
take  enough  of  it  to  supply  their  wants.  When  the  cows 
are  taken  out  of  the  yard,  the  trough  should  be  emptied 
while  the  weather  is  cold,  or  there  is  danger  of  making 
ice  in  the  troughs.  Ice  water  is  exceedingly  hurtful  to 
cows,  and  should  never  be  used  in  a  dairy. 

An  excellent  way  to  make  a  trough  is  to  procure  white 
oak  plank  two  inches  thick,  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  long, 
and  twelve  inches  wide.  For  the  bottom  a  plank  sixteen 
inches  wide  is  used.  The  edges  of  the  bottom  and  end 
planks  are  evenly  dressed  and  covered  with  two  or  three 
thicknesses  of  roofing  paper  dipped  in  tar.  The  sides 
are  then  drawn  up  close  to  the  bottom  and  ends  by 
means  of  screw-bolts,  and  this  will  make  a  strong,  cheap, 
durable,  water-tight  trough.  The  troughs  should  he 
three  feet  above  the  ground,  so  as  to  avoid  the  gathering 
of  filth  in  any  way  whatever.  The  yard  should  be  well 
fenced  with  a  strong  plank  fence,  capped  on  the  top,  and 
should  have  several  gates  opening  on  hinges  and  closed 
with  such  fastenings  as  can  not  be  loosened  by  any  of  the 
more  experienced  cows.  The  fence  should  be  at  least 
five  feet  high. 

Cow-sheds. — The  practice  of  lodging  valuable  covrs 
in  a  basement  of  a  large  barn  filled  with  the  most  com- 
bustible matter,  and  provided  with  flues  and  air  passages 
for  the  rapid  spread  of  fire  and  passage  of  suffocating 
smoke,  has  frequently  led  to  the  entire  and  cruel  destruc- 
tion of  fine  herds  of  cattle,  worth  thousands  of  dollars 
each.  The  most  valuable  cattle  are  thus  apt  to  be  en- 
dangered. As  the  loss  of  a  herd  is"  a  calamity  equally 
serious  to  a  working  dairyman  as  to  a  wealthy  amateur 
farmer,  one  of  the  first  objects  to  secure  should  be  safety 
from  fire,  without  sacrificing  other  requisites,  as  cheap- 
ness, comfort,  convenience  and  cleanliness. 

An  excellent  cow  shed,  in  every  Avay  desirable,  may  be 


108 


THE  DAIBYMA2?^'S  MANUAL. 


built  on  the  following  plan  (figure  11),  which  shows 
a  complete  arrangement,  enclosing  a  square  yard,  and 
which  will  be  isolated  from  other  buildings.  It  consists 
of  thirty-three  loose  stalls  for  cows  and  eight  pens  for 
calves  and  bull,  in  the  front,  on  each  side  of  the  entrance 
gate.  Each  stall  is  six  by  eight  feet,  and  separated  by 
boarded  partitions  four  feet  high.  The  shed  is  nine  feet 
high  in  the  front,  seven  feet  in  the  rear,  is  twelve  feet 
wide,  and  ninety  or  100  feet  long.  The  roof  is  of  boards. 
The  frame  is  made  of  posts  set  in  the  ground,  with  a  two 


Fig.  11.— PLAK  OF   CATTLE   SUED. 

by  four  inch  plate  and  prders  of  the  same  size  where 
needed.  There  is  a  feed  passage  leading  from  a  room 
in  one  end  (J),  for  preparins:  the  feed  which  traverses 
the  whole  length.  There  is  a  feed  trough  in  each  stall, 
and  a  bar  or  pole  is  fastened  along  the  whole  range  of 
stalls,  eiditeen  inches  from  the  top  of  the  front  partition, 
by  which  the  cattle  are  prevented  from  approaching  the 
front  too  closely,  and  mounting  the  feed  troughs,  or  put- 
ting their  feet  into  them.     The  cows  are  kept  loose  in 


DAIRY   BUILDII^GS. 


109 


the  stalls,  unless  otherwise  desired;  in  which  case  they 
can  be  fastened  to  rings  screwed  to  the  sides  of  the  stalls. 
A  cistern,  which  collects  the  water  from  the  roof,  is  made 
at  B.     The  front  of  each  stall   has  a  double   door,  so 
made  that  the  upper  part  may  be  left  open  for  ventila- 
tion.    Ventilating  apertures  may  be  made  above  each 
door,  for  use  in  cold  weather.     The  sheds  are  arranged 
in  a  square,  as  shown,  with  a  gate  at  one  side  for  entrance 
into  the  interior  yard.     The  yard  will  give  room  for  ex- 
ercise, and  racks  may  be  provided 
in  it  for  feeding  green  fodder,  hay 
or   straw.     The  plan  is  admirably 
adapted  for  the   soiling  system  of 
feeding,  and  the  making  of  a  large 
quantity  of  manure,  while  forty  or 
fifty  cows   may  be   provided   with 
comfortable  room,  at  a  cost  of  $600 
to  $750  only.     In  many  cases,  the  value  of  the  manure 
saved  by  soiling  cattle  m  such  a  shed  will  repay  its  whole 
cost  in  one  year.     A  section  of  the  interior  is  shown 


Fig.  13. 


Fig.  13.— SECTION  OF  CHEAP  BARN  AND  STABLES. 

at  figure  12.  At  figure  13  is  a  section  of  a  cheap  barn 
and  stables  connected.  The  building  may  even  be 
brought  lower  at  the  eaves,  and  provide  jiens  for  pigs  and 
calves,  or  sheep,  or  open  sheds  for  tools,  etc.  In  this 
way  it  is  protected  from  sweeping  winds,  which  can  have 
but  little  effect  upon  it.  The  central  space  is  used  for 
storing  hay  or  grain,  or  for  threshing,  and  the  side 
spaces  for  stabling  cattle.  Three  and  a  half  feet  in 
length   of  floor  space  will  accommodate   two  head,  so 


110  THE  dairyman's  MAl^UAL. 

that  a  seventy-foot  barn  will  bold  forty  head,  and  pro- 
vide abundant  room  for  the  crop  of  100  acres,  at  a 
cost  of  about  ten  dollars  per  running  foot.  Light  timber 
only  is  needed,  and  rough  posts  set  in  the  ground  will 
make  the  basis  of  the  frame.  The  plan  is  arranged  for 
a  building  to  be  seventy  feet  long,  and  fifty  feet  wide, 
with  the  central  space  twenty-six  feet,  and  the  wings 
each  twelve  feet  wide  ;  wide  doors  are  made  at  each  end, 
and  also  through  the  center;  the  stanchions  or  stalls 
in  the  center  are  movable,  and  may  be  easily  taken  down 
when  it  is  necessary  to  use  the  central  cross  passage. 

The  Disposal  of  Majeure  is  another  important  mat- 
ter, and  the  construction  of  manure  cellars  should  receive 
attention.  Manure  may  be  saved  and  made  most  easily 
in  a  cellar  under  the  stable.  By  the  use  of  trap-doors  in 
the  gutter  on  the  floor,  the  manure  and  soiled  litter  can 
be  drawn  down  and  dropped  into  the  cellar  in  five  min- 
utes. The  stable  is  then  clean  and  ready  for  a  fresh 
littering  of  sawdust  and  leaves  or  short  straw.  To  draw 
the  manure  along  the  gutter,  I  have  used  a  large  hoe 
made  as  wide  as  the  gutter.  This  cleans  the  floor  when 
necessary,  as  well  as  the  gutter.  A  stiff  broom  is  then 
used  to  sweep  the  gutter  clean.  The  manure  falls  in  a 
heap  under  each  trap-door  in  the  gutter,  and  is  immedi- 
ately spread  and  covered  over  with  a  coat  of  dry  swamp 
muck  kept  in  readiness  in  the  cellar.  A  heap  of  the 
muck  is  then  thrown  under  each  trap-door  to  catch  the 
drip  of  liquid  which  comes  from  the  gutter.  In  this  way 
there  is  no  foul  odor  in  the  stable.  If  any  should  be 
noticed,  the  floor  is  dusted  all  over  with  plaster  kept  in 
a  barrel  in  the  stable  for  that  purpose,  and  a  half  bushel 
of  it  is  taken  into  the  cellar  and  spread  over  the  manure. 
In  this  way  the  stable  is  kept  free  from  all  disagreeable 
odor,  and  the  most  fastidious  person  could  walk  through 
it  without  the  least  disgust  and  witness  the  milking 
which  follows  this  operation. 


DAIRY  BriLDi:s-GS.  Ill 

The  cellar  should  be  at  least  nine  feet  high  in  the 
clear,  to  permit  the  men  who  work  in  it  to  load  the 
wagons.  I  have  had  my  cellar  four  feet  deep  with 
manure,  and  as  it  was  fifty  by  twenty-four  feet,  this  gave 
4,800  cubic  feet,  or  about  sixty  tons.  Manure  made  of 
swamp  muck  and  leaves  in  large  proportion,  with  the 
cow's  droppings  and  urine,  is  not  so  heavy  as  the  clear 
manure,  and  will  weigh  only  about  one  and  a  half  ton 
to  the  cord,  but  a  ton  of  it  is  worth  at  least  $5,  if  esti- 
mated in  the  way  the  value  of  artificial  fertilizers  is.  I 
have  used  many  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  fertilizers  in 
addition  to  the  large  quantity  of  manure  made  in  this 
way,  and  have  often  used  $25  worth  to  the  acre ;  but  I 
have  found  that  five  tons  of  the  stable  manure,  made  as 
here  described,  from  my  high-fed  cows,  have  shown  more 
effect  upon  my  light  soil  than  the  fertilizer.  Being  quite 
fine  and  pulverulent,  it  is  spread  from  the  manure- 
spreader  quite  evenly,  and  as  a  top  dressing  upon  rye  in 
the  early  spring,  or  grass  or  clover,  it  shows  a  conspicuous 
effect  after  the  first  rain.  This  is  to  be  attributed  to  the 
fact  that  all  the  valuable  urine  is  saved,  and  that  plaster 
so  liberally  used  preserves  every  atom  of  fertilizing  mat- 
ter, besides  adding  something  of  its  own.  At  least  fifty 
pounds  of  plaster  are  used  to  each  ton  of  manure,  as  it  is 
scattered  in  the  horse-stable  and  pig-pens,  as  well  as  in 
the  cow-stable  and  the  cellar  under  it. 

The  bottom  should  be  cemented,  unless  the  greatest  care 
IS  exercised  to  use  an  abundance  of  absorbents.  I  have 
never  suspected  any  waste  in  my  cellar,  although  the  bot- 
tom is  of  sand.  During  many  cleanings  out  the  cellar  bot- 
tom has  become  hollowed  considerably,  and  any  liquid 
free  in  it  would  soak  into  the  sand.  But  I  have  never 
found  the  sand,  even  after  some  years'  use,  to  be  discolored 
more  than  an  inch  in  depth.  I  would  advise  every  man 
who  makes  a  manure  cellar  to  have  it  cemented;  making 
the  floor  dishing  to  the  center.     The 'floor  should  be 


112  THE 

covered  three  inches  deep  with  concrete,  made  of  gravel, 
six  parts ;  sand  three  parts  ;  and  hydraulic  cement  one 
part.  These  are  well  mixed  into  a  thin  mortar,  which  is 
evenly  spread  and  well  rammed  down  until  it  is  firm  and 
solid.  It  is  advisable  when  it  is  dry  to  give  it  a  coat  oi 
hot  gas-tar,  which  makes  it  harder  and  more  durable,  and 
less  liable  to  break  under  the  weight  of  a  load  of  manure, 
and  it  keeps  vermin  out..  The  cellar  should  have  several 
windows  to  afford  thorough  ventilation.  This  is  very  im- 
portant. The  manure  made  by  well-fed  cows  is  rich  and 
quickly  ferments,  throwing  off  a  good  deal  of  carbonic, 
acid  gas  ;  more  csioecially  from  the  action  of  the  plaster 
upon  the  ammonia  which  is  formed,  and  which  unites 
with  the  plaster,  giving  off  carbonic  acid.  A  good  deal 
of  hydrogen  gas  is  also  evolved,  which,  with  the  carbonic 
acid,  will  at  times  form  carburretted  hydrogen,  and  it  is 
well  to  get  rid  of  this  gas  as  quickly  as  possible,  as  it 
is  very  deleterious.  A  thorough  ventilation  is  therefore 
needed,  and  at  least  six  windows  should  be  provided  in 
the  cellar  as  near  the  upper  part  as  may  be.  These  win- 
dows should  have  sliding  sash,  and  need  not  be  larger 
than  three  feet  by  one  and  one-half,  placed  lengthwise 
horizontally. 

The  door  should  be  at  least  twelve  feet  wide  and  made 
to  run  on  hangers  and  a  track,  so  as  to  slide  easily  each 
way.  They  are  then  in  no  way  inconvenient,  as  hinged 
doors  always  are.  My  doors  are  open  on  the  upper 
half,  and  are  there  barred,  to  admit  air  and  to  make 
them  lighter.  No  animals  are  permitted  m  the  manure 
cellar.  There  is  nothing  there  for  them  to  eat,  and  if 
there  was,  I  object  strongly  to  any  animal  consuming  as 
food  any  part  of  the  excrement  of  another;  believing  this 
to  be  a  prevalent  source  of  disease  and  loss,  and  to  be 
avoided  as  unnatural,  filthy,  and  unwholesome  in  the 
extreme.  Moreover,  pigs  will  do  better  with  healthful 
exercise  in  a  grass  field  or  a  wood  lot,  than  in  turning  up 


DAIRY    BUrLDINGS.  113 

the  manure  in  a  cellar;  and  poultry  kept  in  manure  are 
not  fit  food  for  a  civilized  being. 

A  cellar  should  be  built  firmly  and  neatly.     If  stone  is 
used  it  should  be  well  laid  m  lime  mortar,  and  the  spaces 
well  filled  with  broken  fragments.     Care  is  to  be  taken 
to  have  no  burrowing  places  for  rats  and  mice,  and  one 
excellent  feature  of  a  good  cellar  is  that  it  serves  as  an 
entire  defence  against  the  assaults  of  these  vermm  upon 
the  stable  and  barn  above  it.     The  beams  and  joists  are 
well  hidden  in  the  wall,  and  the  floor  above  is  laid  close 
down  upon  the  wall  plate,  which  is  a  three-inch  plank 
bedded  in  the  mortar,  and  upon  which  the  posts  and 
studding  of  the  frame  of  the  stable  rest  and  are  spiked. 
The  stable  floor  comes  up  snugly  to  this  plate,  and  so 
leaves  no  crevice  through  which   a  mouse   could  force 
itself.     As  the  barn  above  the  stable  has  a  tight  floor, 
there  is  no  chance  for  mice  to  get  up  there,  and  any  one 
which  by  chance  gets  in  the  stable  is  soon  captured  by 
the  well-fed  cats,  which  have  their  home  in  the  stable 
and  get  regular  rations  of  milk  twice  a  day.     Lastly,  it 
is  advisable  to  make  the  corners  of  the  cellar  of  dressed 
stone,  and  lay  them  up  with  care,  as  these  are  usually 
the  first  part  of  a  cellar  wall  to  give  out,  and  are  the 
most  important. 

Stable  for  a  Family  Cow.— Where  but  one  cow  is 
kept  the  stable  may  be  located  conveniently  near  the 
house  if  desired,  because  a  well-kept  stable  will  never  be  *^ 
disagreeable  in  any  way  to  the  most  fastidious  house- 
keeper. Therefore  I  would  have  the  stable  for  a  family 
cow  near  the  house,  and  not  a  hundred  feet  distant.  It 
may  be  made  to  include  a  wood-house,  a  store-room,  a 
dairy  room  and  a  garden  tool  house.  It  should  be 
located  upon  rising  ground,  or  so  that  water  flows  every 
way  from  it.  The  water  from  the  roof  should  flow  into 
a  cistern,  which  will  supply  all  the  water  needed. 

The  stable  should  have  an  upper  loft  for  hay  and  a 


114  THE    DAIKYMAN'S   MANUAL. 

store-room  below  for  feed.  A  building  twenty-four  by 
sixteen  feet  and  sixteen  feet  high  will  be  roomy  and  con- 
venient. The  cow  stalls  should  be  three  and  a  half  feet 
wide  and  twelve  feet  long  in  all.  It  is  well  to  have  two 
stalls  :  the  extra  one  may  be  wanted  for  some  other  pur- 
pose, if  not  for  a  cow.  To  preserve  cleanliness  the  floor 
should  slope  backwards  a  trifle,  to  a  shallow  ditch  placed 
four  and  a  half  to  five  feet  from  the  inside  edge  of  the 
feed  trough,  in  which  ditch  the  droppings  may  fall. 
This  will  leaye  room  behind  for  a  broad  passage  from 
which  a  door  leads  into  the  barn.  The  manure  gutter 
should  drain  into  a  manure  tank  outside.  This  is  best 
made  with  a  brick  wall  and  covered  with  a  tight  trap-door 
to  keep  out  flies  in  the  summer.  For  this  purpose, 
too,  some  powdered  copperas  may  be  liberally  sprinkled 
over  the  manure  and  in  the  gutter.  This  will  absorb  all 
the  smell  and  destroy  the  larvae  of  house  and  dung  flies 
which  would  otherwise  gather  by  thousands  in  the  man- 
ure. The  feed  trough  should  be  two  feet  from  the  floor  to 
the  top,  sixteen  inches  wide  and  twelve  inches  deep,  which 
is  sufficient  to  hold  a  full  mess  of  cut  grass  or  corn  fodder. 
In  front  of  the  feed  trough  is  a  partition  four  feet  high, 
and  in  this  a  falling  door  is  made  across  the  whole  front 
of  the  stall,  on  a  line  with  the  top  of  the  feed  trough,  by 
hanging  one  of  the  boards  upon  hinges  and  securing  it 
.■)y  a  cord,  so  that  it  can  fall  only  to  an  angle  of  forty- 
five  degrees  and  so  make  a  slide  by  which  to  put  the 
feed  into  the  troughs.  The  feed  passage  will  be  three 
feet  wide  and  in  front  of  the  stall  or  stalls.  It  should 
be  provided  with  a  neat,  covered  feed  bin  at  the  end. 

The  remainder  of  the  building  may  be  used  for  various 
purposes,  for  a  carriage  house  if  a  horse  is  kept,  or  for 
wood,  coal,  storage,  etc.  A  stairway  may  be  made  in 
one  corner  leading  to  the  upper  floor,  and  the  pump  and 
cistern  may  be  conveniently  placed  under  it.  Where 
only  one  cow  is  kept,  a  very  cheap  shed  with  no  upper 


DAIRY    BCILDIKGS. 


115 


floor  will  be  sufiBcienfc,  and  forty  dollars  will  be  amply 
sufficient  to  supply  a  family  cow  with  every  comfort  and 
convenience.  The  floor  should  be  of  cement  or  brick,  or 
of  hard-rammed  clay.  Wood  is  the  least  desirable  floor. 
A  cement  floor  is  the  best,  and  if  well  made  it  is  vermin- 
proof.  It  should  be  made  of  one  part  of  Rosendale 
cement  and  three  parts  clean  sand,  mixed  dry  and  then 
with  water  into  a  thin  mortar,  to  which  add  seven  parts 
of  coarse  gravel.  This  should  be  laid  three  inches  deep 
and  have  a  top  coat  of  half  an  inch  of  the  clear  mortar 
for  a  finish.     A  washing  with  a  few  pails  of  water  occa- 


Tio".   i4. 


-STABLE    WITH  POULTRY-HOUSE. 


sionally  will  clean  off  such  a  floor  and  keep.it  sweet. 
The  safest  manner  of  fastening  for  a  cow  is  a  broad 
leather  strap  around  the  neck,  with  a  ring  in  it,  and  a 
short  rope  tied  into  an  auger-hole  near  the  top  'of  the 
front  of  the  trough,  having  a  snap-hook  attached  to  the 
free  end. 

A  plan  for  a  stable  to  accommodate  the  family  cow 
and  one  or  two  horses,  with  a  poultry-house  annexed,  and 
suitable  for  a  modest  country  residence,  is  given  at  fio-. 
ures  14  and  15.     The  central  part  comprises  two  horse 


116 


THE    DAIRYMAN  S   MANUAL. 


stalls,  five  by  ten  feet,  and  a  loose  box  for  a  cow^  seven 
and  a  half  by  ten  feet,  with  a  passage,  in  wbicli  is  a  feed 
bin,  room  for  a  fodder  cutter  and  feed  box,  and  stairs  to 
the  hay  loft.  Over  the  feed  box  is  a  hay  shute  from  the 
loft  above.  The  poultry-house  adjoins  the  passage,  from 
which  t>vo  doors  open  into  it.  This  house  is  eighteen  by 
twelve  feet,  and  has  a  sloping  front  of  glazed  sash.     The 


P^oj 

PICS. 

cow. 

i 

. 

cs 

w 

-J 

2 

< 

CO 

^     [ 

°-     1 

_    d: 

1       STA 

Fig.    15. — PLAN   OF   STABLE    WITH  POULTRT-HOCSE. 

roosts  are  shown  in  the  engraving  by  the  three  bars  in 
eacli  apartment.  The  poultry-house  is  divided  into  two 
parts,  so  that  one  can  be  appropriated  for  young  chickens 
and  brooding  hens,  which  is  a  very  convenient  method, 
and  avoids  the  loss  of  a  single  chick.  At  the  other  end 
is  a  yard  for  manure,  with  a  pig-pen  at  the  rear. 

An  Open  Cow  Shed. — A  cheap  and  convenient  open 
shed  for  feeding  or  milking  may  be  built  as  follows. 


Fig.  16. — oPE^r  cow  sked. 
Posts  are  set  in  the  ground  in  four  rows  ten  feet  apart; 
the  posts  in  the  outer  rows  being  ten  feet  apart   and 
seven  feet  above  the  ground,  and  those  in  the  inner  rows 
being  five  feet  apart  and  ten  feet  high.     These  posts  are 


DAIRY    BUILDINGS. 


117 


mortised  and  pinned  at  the  top  to  plates  upon  whicli 
rafters  are  laid,  and  where  necessary  girders  are  spiked  to 
the  posts.  A  feed  trough  is  fastened  to  each  inner  row 
of  posts,  and  a  hay  rack  is  fixed  above  each  trough  ;  the 
passage  between  the  rows  of  posts  is  used  for  the  purpose 
of  drawing  fodder  in  a  cart  or  wagon.  The  spaces  be- 
tween the  inner  posts  form  roomy  stalls  for  the  cattle,  if 
desired,  and  if  cows  are  kept  the  posts  may  be  placed 
seven  feet  apart,  and  double  stalls  holding  two  cows  each 
may  be  made.  A  tight  roof  is  made  overhead,  and  the 
gables  and  part  of  the  sides  and  ends  may  be  closed  in; 
or  the  whole  may  be  closed  in  and  .turned  into  a  roomy 


Fig.   17.— CHEAP    cow    STABLE. 

iind  comfortable  stable.  The  author  has  a  shed  of  this 
kind  on  his  farm  in -western  North  Carolina.  It  is 
found  most  convenient  for  the  stock,  and  for  storing  hay 
and  fodder  in  the  upper  part,  which  is  four  feet  high  at 
the  eaves.  The  roof  is  made  half  pitch  and  consequently 
gives  a  large  storage  space  on  the  upper  floor.  It  is 
used  for  milking  cow^s  and  feeding  stock  cattle  in  the 
winter.  The  cattle  are  tied  by  short  ropes  around  the 
horns.  J*n  a  timber  country  a  shed  of  this  kind  may  be 
built  for  about  one  dollar  per  running  foot. 
A  Very  Cheap  Cow  Stable  for  a  rural  cottage  is 


118 


THE   dairyman's  MAKUAt. 


shown  at  figures  17  and  18.  The  posts  in  front  are 
twelve  feet  in  hight,  and  the  rear  ones  eight.  The 
boards  are  put  on  vertically,  and  battened  on  the  sides. 
The  roof  is  made  of  rough  boards  laid  double,  and 
breaking  joints,  so  that  it  will  not  leak.     The  box  for 


FEED 

ROOM 


OPEN  SHED. 
7K14 


MEAL 
BOX 


FEEDINa 
PASSAGE. 


( 


STALL  FOR  COW 


Fig.    18.— PLAN   OF  CHEAP  COW   STABLE. 

the  cow  is  eight  by  ten  feet  and  six  feet  four  inches 
high,  and  has  a  feed  passage  four  by  eight  feet  adjoining 
it.  The  middle  portion  of  the  building  is  an  open  shed, 
seven  by  fourteen  feet,  which  is  used  for  storing  muck, 
protecting  the  manure  heajD  from  the  rains,  etc. 


CHAPTER   X. 

WATER    SUPPLY. 

A  COPIOUS  supply  of  pure  water  is  indispensable  for  a 
dairy.  This  is  one  point  to  which  particular  attention 
should  be  given  in  selecting  a  farm  for  this  use.  A 
clear,  cool,  running  stream  through  the  pasture,  and 
near  the  barn,  is  the  most  convenient  source  for  the 
supply  of  the  cows ;  but  unless  the  farm  controls  the 
springs  from  which  the  stream  issues  it  is  apt  to  be  the 


WATER  SUPPLY.  119 

worst  of  all.  If  the  water  is  contaminated  in  any  way, 
the  quality  of  the  milk  will  inevitably  suffer  ;  and  many 
cases  occur  in  which  a  dairyman,  annoyed  by  a  sup- 
posed mysterious  trouble  with  the  milk,  and  the  butter 
or  cheese  made  from  it,  has  at  last  found  the  cause  to  be 
impurity  in  the  water  drank  by  the  cows.  Moreover,  a 
large  quantity  of  water  is  required  in  a  dairy  for  cleans- 
ing the  pans,  and  if  this  water  is  not  pure  the  very 
source  of  the  supposed  cleansing  brings  impurity  into 
the  dairy.  My  own  supply  of  water  was  procured  from 
springs  which  were  opened  in  the  bottom  of  a  slope  be- 
low the  house  and  barn,  by  digging  three  or  four  feet 
down  to  a  bed  of  fine  clean  sand  and  gravel,  when  the 
water  immediately  flowed  out  over  the  brim  and  down 
to  a  small  spring  stream  in  the  bottom,  which  was  fed  by 
a  large  number  of  bubbling  springs  in  its  bed.  Such  a 
source  as  this,  conveniently  close  to  the  barn,  and  not  so 
low  but  it  can  be  brought  up  to  it  in  pipes,  by  means  of 
a  pump,  is  the  very  best ;  as  the  water  is  pure,  cool  in 
summer  and  warm  in  winter,  and  in  unlimited  sup- 
ply at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  The  manner  in  which 
this  supply  of  water  was  made  available  is  as  follows  : 
A  reservoir  or  tank  was  dug  out  near  the  foot  of  the  slope, 
sufficiently  deep  to  hold  an  abundant  stock,  and  to  se- 
cure an  even  temperature,  which  averaged  from  forty- 
eight  to  fifty  degrees  in  midsummer,  and  forty-five  to 
forty-eight  degrees  in  midwinter.  The  pool  was  lined 
with  a  wall  of  stone  laid  closely  and  covered  with  a  small 
building  for  protection.  Other  springs  were  opened  and 
walled  in  the  same  way,  and  arched  over  with  stone, 
after  providing  a  safe  outlet  with  drain  tiles,  and  an  air 
trap  to  prevent  access  of  any  small  insects  or  animals. 
Pipes  of  galvanized  iron  were  laid  for  these  springs  in 
trenches  three  feet  deep,  so  as  to  be  safe  from  frost,  and 
to  preserve  coolness  in  the  hot  weather,  and  connected 
with  pumps  in  the  house,  stable,  barn,  and  barnvard. 


120 


THE   DAIRYMAN'S   MANUAL, 


Where  the  hight  of  the  hillside  was  too  great  to  permit 
of  the  use  of  a  common  suction  pump,  a  dry  well  was 
dug  to  a  sufficient  depth,  viz.,  eight  feet,  and  the  pipe 
was  carried  to  the  bottom  of  it  and  connected  with  a 
force  pump,  so  that  the  water  could  be  carried,  by 
means  of  a  hose,  to  any  part  of  the  yard  or  stables  (see 
figure  19).  A  nozzle  attached  to  this  hose  made  it  easy 
to  throw  a  stream  of  water  over  any  of  the  buildings ;  a 
most  useful   thing  in  case  of  fire,  or  for  washing  the 


Fig.  19. — DRAWING  WATER   FROM   A   SPRING. 

stable  floor,  wetting  the  manure  heaps  to  prevent  fire 
faniring,  and  other  desirable  purposes. 

Where  springs  of  this  kind  are  not  available,  common 
wells  are  next  in  value.  But  as  wells  are  quickly  contam- 
inated by  drainage  from  the  surface,  when  in  or  near 
barnyards  or  stables,  it  is  advisable  to  have  the  well  for 
use  in  a  dairy  at  some  safe  distance  from  the  stable  and 
yard.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  percolation 
of  water  fouled  by  the  manure  in  a  barnyard,  constantly 
leaching  by  the  rain,  will  reach  the  well ;  and  although 
the  water  is  filtered  to  some  extent  by  its  passage  through 


WATER  SUPPLY.  121 

the  soil,  yet  in  time  a  filter  becomes  fully  charged  with 
the  impurities  and  cannot  act  any  longer. 

To  be  quite  safe  a  well  should  be  situated  on  the  rising 
side  of  a  bed  of  impervious  clay,  or  gravel  based  on  clay, 
[so  that  any  soil  drainage  should  be  carried /row2  the  well. 
'To  exclude  surface  water  the  upper  part  of  the  well 
should  be  curbed  with  brick  laid  in  hydraulic  cement, 
and  the  wall  should  be  carried  some  inches  aboye  the 
surface  and  then  covered  with  a  flat  'flagstone  with  a 
small  hole  in  it  for  the  pipe  of  the  pump  to  pass  through. 
The  flange  of  the  pump  should  be  cemented  to  the  stone, 
so  that  nothing  can  gain  access  to  the  well.  A  mound 
of  clay  beaten  firmly  and  sodded  over  with  ^rass  should 
be  put  around  the  well,  to  divert  the  rain  water ;  or  a 
large  water-tight  platform  should  be  made  around  the 
pump. 

Where  there  are  neither  springs  nor  wells,  cisterns  will 
be  found  useful.  With  some  precautions  cistern  water  is 
quite  free  from  objection.  The  precautions  to  be  ob- 
served are  to  have  the  cistern  on  high  ground  and  safe 
from  ingress  of  surface  water,  and  to  have  an  automatic 
arrangement  for  diverting  the  flow  from  the  roof  at  the 
first  part  of  the  shower,  which  washes  the  filth  from  the 
gutters.  A  surprisingly  large  quantity  of  waste  matter 
will  gather  on  a  roof  in  a  short  time.  Atmospheric 
dust,  pollen  from  trees  and  plants,  droppings  of  birds, 
insects,  small  dead  animals,  and  the  wear  of  the  roof 
covering,  all  these  are  washed  into  the  cistern  with  the 
first  part  of  the  shower  and  make  the  water  extremely 
filthy.  A  cistern  becomes  in  many  cases  a  collection 
of  exceedingly  injurious  filth,  which  renders  the  water 
wholly  unfit  for  drink,  and  dangerously  infects  the  milk. 

To  avoid  this,  an  arrangement  is  attached  to  the  lead- 
ing pipe  from  the  roof,  having  two  connecting  pipes,  one 
to  receive  the  first  flow  from  the  roof,  and  one  to  take 
the  clean  water  after  the  roof  is  washed  off.     These  two 


12-2  THE 

pipes  are  pivoted  upon  a  supporting  arm  which  holds  them 
iQ  position  to  receive  the  water  from  the  leader.  When  not 
in  use  the  waste  pipe  is  set  under  the  leader  and  is  a  little 
over- balanced  by  the  cistern  pipe.  A  small  metal  box  is 
fitted  to  the  waste  pipe  and  is  connected  with  it  by  a 
small  orifice,  through  which  water  enters  slowly  when 
the  rain  is  pouring  from  the  roof.  This  box  becomes 
filled  in  a  sufficient  space  of  time  for  the  ram  to  wash  off 
the  roof,  and  the  weight  of  it  then  over-balances  the 
cistern  pipe,  which  is  brought  under  the  leader  and 
conveys  the  flow  into  the  cistern.  This  is  a  very  simple 
arrangement,  and  has  been  found  to  work  very  well, 
needing  no  attention  except  to  empty  the  water  box 
after  the  rain  is  over  and  let  the  waste  pipe  return  to  its 
place. 

Cisterns  require  careful  construction.  The  best  form 
is  the  oval  or  egg-shaped,  as  this  best  resists  the  pressure 
of  the  outer  earth  when  it  is  empty.  This  form  is  shown 
at  figure  20.  The  manner  of  construction  is  as  follows. 
The  surface  soil  is  removed  to  a  depth  of  eighteen  inches 
to  exclude  frost  in  winter  and  heat  in  summer.  The 
excavation  is  made  as  shown  in  the  engraving,  which  is  the 
shape  of  an  egg  with  the  upper  third  cut  off.  It  should 
be  eight  to  twelve  feet  deep,  and  seven  to  ten  feet  in  di- 
ameter. The  deeper  the  cistern  the  better  and  cheaper 
it  is.  If  the  soil  is  close  and  compact  the  cement  may 
be  laid  directly  upon  it,  and  no  brick  lining  is  required. 
To  do  this,  a  large  flat  stone  (s)  is  bedded  in  cement  at 
the  bottom  for  the  workman  to  stand  upon,  and  as  a 
rest  for  the  pump  (p).  The  cement  is  made  of  water 
lime  one  part,  and  clean  sharp  sand  three  parts  ;  mixed 
dry  first,  and  wetted  up  in  small  quantities  as  required, 
and  can  be  used  before  it  sets  hard.  The  cement  is  laid 
about  an  inch  thick  (w).  When  the  bottom  is  covered, 
a  layer  is  put  around  the  wall  about  a  foot  high,  and  as 
it  sets  very  quickly,  as  soon  as  one  strip  is  laid  another 


WATER   SUPPLY. 


123 


may  be  put  on  above  it,  until  the  whole  is  completed. 
In  digging,  a  shoulder  a  foot  in  width  is  made  on  the 
top  of  the  sub-soil  eighteen  inches  deep,  to  rest  the  beams 
upon.  This  is  also  covered  with  cemfent,  and  the  beams 
are  laid  on,  and  the  spaces  between  them  on  the  shoulder 
are  filled  in  with  stone,  or  brick,  and  cement,  to  the 
upper  level,  upon  which  the  floor  rests.  A  strong  floor 
of  four-mch  plank,  doubled,  with  the  joints  broken,  is 


Fi^.  20.— KAIN-WATEK   CISTERN. 

laid  upon  the  beams  and  covered  with  a  coat  of  the  cement 
to  exclude  surface  water ;  and  this  floor  is  then  covered 
with  earth  and  sodded  oyer,  or  a  platform  is  built  over 
it  to  stand  upon.  A  manhole  (m)  should  be  made  in  the 
cover  large  enough  for  a  person  to  go  down  when  it  is 
necessary  to  clean  out  the  cistern,  and  this  is  brought  up 
a  little  above  the  platform  and  fitted  with  a  tight  cover, 
kept  locked,  to  avoid  danger  of  children  falling  m.  The 
pipe  (e)  conveys  the  water  from  the  roof;  but  it  is  best 


124  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

to  have  it  enter  under  the  shoulder,  where  it  is  out  of 
the  way. 

A  force  pump  should  always  be  chosen  for  the  cistern, 
so  that  in  case  of  need  a  hose  may  be  attached  and  the 
•water  carried  where  it  may  be  wanted,  to  a  distant 
trough,  or  to  any  part  of  the  yard  or  stables. 

When  the  soil  is  sandy,  or  loose  gravel,  the  cistern 
should  be  lined  with  hard  bricks  laid  lengthwise  so  as  to 
make  a  wall  four  inches  thick.  The  floor  should  be  of 
cement,  and  no  bricks  except  a  few  in  the  center  will  be 
required.  The  bricks  should  be  thoroughly  wetted  be- 
fore they  are  used.  The  cement  should  be  spread  all 
over  the  surface  of  the  brick  so  as  to  completely  fill  the 
spaces,  and  the  outside  of  the  w^all  should  be  plastered  as 
it  goes  up.  Earth  should  be  packed  firmly  against  the 
wall  outside  to  give  a  backing  which  will  resist  the  jDressure 
of  the  water.  This  is  an  important  point,  and  should 
not  be  forgotten.  "When  the  desired  hight  is  reached 
the  bricks  are  inclined  gradually  to  form  the  shoulder  for 
the  arch,  and  the  wall  is  then  drawn  in  towards  the  middle; 
leaving  a  manhole  in  the  center.  This  is  covered  with  a 
large  flagstone.  The  inside  of  the  cistern  is  covered 
with  a  wash  coat  of  clear  cement. 

The  cost  will  depend  upon  its  size  and  the  material 
selected.  The  expense  of  excavation  may  be  estimated 
at  twenty-five  cents  for  a  cubic  3'ard,  or  one  cent  per  cubic 
foot.  To  ascertain  the  length  of  wall  around  a  cistern 
multiply  the  diameter  by  three  and  one-fifth.  Thus 
one  eight  feet  in  diameter  will  be  over  twenty-five  feet 
around.  Fourteen  bricks  will  lay  one  square  foot  of 
wall,  eight  inches,  or  one  brick  thick  ;  twenty-five  will 
lay  a  square  foot,  twelve  inches,  or  a  brick  and  one-half 
thick.  Thus  for  every  foot  in  hight,  an  eight-foot  cistern 
will  require  350  bricks,  if  the  wall  is  one  brick  length- 
wise thick,  or  180  if  it  is  a  half  brick  thick.  For  a  small 
cistern  the  bricks  may  be  laid  in  this  manner,  but  those 


WATER   SUPPLY.  125 

over  six  or  eight  feet  in  diameter  should  have  an  eight- 
inch  wall  to  resist  the  outside  pressure,  especially  if  the 
soil  IS  of  grayel  or  sand.  To  lay  1,000  bricks  two  bar- 
rels of  cement  will  be  required,  if  used  clear ;  but  there 
may  be  one,  or  two,  or  even  three  barrels  of  sand  used  to 
one  of  cement,  without  danger  of  weakening  the  wall. 
Where  expense  is  no  object  as  compared  with  durability, 
we  would  use  clear  cement.  Rosendale  (American)  ce- 
ment is  good  enough  for  all  purposes. 

To  ascertain  the  contents  of  a  cistern  the  diameter  is 
multiplied  by  itself,  or  squared,  and  this  product  is  mul- 
tiplied by  .  7854.  It  will  be  near  enough  to  take  three- 
quarters  of  the  product  in  feet  and  multiply  this  by  the 
depth  in  feet.  This  gives  the  number  of  cubic  feet  of 
water  in  the  cistern,  A  cubic  foot  of  water  is  equal  to 
seven  and  a  half  gallons.  Thus  in  figuring  for  a  cistern 
the  desired  size  may  soon  be  ascertained.  By  doub- 
ling tlie  diameter,  the  contents  are  increased  fourfold. 
Thus  a  round  cistern  four  feet  in  diameter  will  hold  a 
little  over  three  barrels  for  every  foot  in  depth;  if  eight 
feet  in  diameter,  it  will  hold  twelve  and  one-half  barrels 
for  every  foot ;  but  if  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  it  will  hold 
nine  times  as  much;  for  if  the  diameter  is  enlarged  three 
times,  the  contents  are  increased  three  times  three,  or 
nine  times,  and  if  enlarged  four  times,  or  to  sixteen  feet, 
the  cistern  will  hold  four  times  four,  or  sixteen  times  as 
much  water  for  every  foot  in  depth.  Thus  a  great  ad- 
vantage is  gained  by  making  the  cistern  as  wide  as  pos- 
sible. The  following  table  will  be  found  useful  for 
reference: 

Contents  of  a  round  cistern  for  every  foot  in  depth  of 


4  feet  in 

diameter 

=      93 

gallons 

=    3V.obbl8 

6        " 

=    212 

=    7         " 

8        " 

=    375 

=  12i       " 

10        " 

=    588 

=  19i       ♦* 

12 

=    848 

=  28         « 

16        " 

=  1500 

=  50         " 

126  THE   DAIRYMA]S''S   MANUAL. 

A  cistern  lined  with  cement  only,  and  finished  com- 
pletely, eight  feet  in  diameter  and  ten  feet  deep,  of  the 
form  shown  in  the  engraving  on  page  123,  will  cost  about 
forty  dollars,  and  will  hold  100  barrels. 

In  arranging  for  the  water  supply  for  the  stock  a  suf- 
ficiency of  water  troughs  should  be  provided,  and  as 
many  as  will  give  ample  opportunities  for  all  the  cows  to 
drink  without  molestation  from  the  master  cows  of  the 
herd.  Four  troughs  are  not  too  many  for  twelve  or 
fifteen  cows,  and  these  should  be  scattered  widely  apart, 
or  be  so  protected  that  one  ill-natured  animal  may  not 
keep  guard  over  them  all.  An  excellent  arrangement  is 
to  have  an  octagonal  frame  with  a  trough  on  each  side, 
or  one  trough  all  around  it,  so  that  every  cow  may  have 
a  chance  to  get  to  the  water. 

The  water  from  the  troughs  should  be  carried  off,  to 
avoid  ice  around  them  in  the  winter,  and  some  provision 
should  be  made  to  empty  the  troughs  to  prevent  the 
accumulation  of  ice  at  that  season.  Where  it  is  practi- 
cable, a  constant  flow  of  water  in  the  troughs  in  the  sum- 
mer is  desirable,  and  for  this  purpose,  where  there  is  a  run- 
ning stream,  a  water  ram  may  be  used,  or  a  windmill  with 
a  reservoir  of  sufficient  capacity  to  supply  all  the  require- 
ments both  of  the  cattle  and  the  dairy  work. 

The  newly-introduced  rustless  iron  pipe  is  a  great  con- 
venience. Lead  pipe  is  exceedingly  objectionable  on 
account  of  the  danger  of  poisoning  by  solution  of  the 
lead  by  the  carbonic  acid  almost  always  contained  in 
water.  Iron  pipe  rusts  rapidly  from  the  same  cause,  and 
is  soon  useless.  The  rustless  pipe  is  the  plain  iron  pipe 
subjected  to  a  process  by  which  the  inner  and  outer  sur- 
faces are  changed  to  magnetic  oxide,  which  is  not  acted 
upon  by  water,  or  any  acids  or  alkalies  ;  not  even  boiling 
nitric  acid  affects  it.  This  renders  the  pipe  practically 
unchangeable  and  indestructible.  A  pipe  which  brings 
water  several  hundred  feet  from  a  spring,  and  which  has 


FOODS   FOR   USE   IN   THE   DAIRY.  127 

been  in  use  and  partly  exposed  to  the  air  near  the  sur- 
face of  the  soil  for  more  than  a  year,  is  now  as  bright  as 
when  laid,  and  does  not  affect  the  taste  of  the  water  in 
the  least. 


CHAPTER    XL 
FOODS   FOR   USE    IN   THE    DAIRY. 

The  subject  of  foods  for  use  in  the  dairy  is  one  of  the 
highest  importance  to  the  dairyman.  If  the  cow  is  a 
machine  for  manufacturing  raw  materials — the  food — 
into  finished  products — milk,  butter,  and  cheese — then 
it  follows  that  while  the  character  of  the  machine  and 
its  ability  to  do  its  work  properly  are  of  first  importance, 
the  character  of  the  materials  worked  up  is  of  but  very 
little  less  importance  ;  for  no  machine,  however  good  it 
may  be,  can  do  good  work  with  poor  materials.  *'  Out  of 
nothing,  nothing  comes  ;"  and  if  the  food  is  deficient  in 
the  elements  required  to  make  the  desired  products — the 
nitrogenous  elements  to  make  up  the  caseine,  the  fat  to 
make  the  butter,  the  carbo-hydrates  to  make  the  sugar, 
and  the  mineral  matter  to  furnish  the  salts — the  cow,  no 
matter  how  excellent  an  animal  she  may  be,  cannot 
supply  the  deficiencies. 

The  dairyman  should  therefore  be  an  expert  on  the 
subject  of  foods;  He  should  know  of  what  elements 
the  animal  itself  consists,  what  are  required  to  support 
the  animal  in  a  full  condition  of  health  and  vigor,  and 
of  what  elements  milk  of  the  best  quality  is  composed. 
This  furnishes  the  key  to  the  most  important  problem, 
'^How  should  a  cow  be  fed  to  procure  from  her  the 
largest  quantity  of  the  best  product  at  the  least  cost?" 
Upon  the  proper  solution  of  this  problem  the  profits  of 
the  dairyman  depend. 

An  animal  requires  a  certain  quantity  of  three  ele- 
mentary kinds  of  nutriment  to  support  it  in  vigorous 


128  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

life,  without  loss  of  substance  or  gain  in  weight.  This 
is  called  the  normal  maintenance  ration,  and  consists 
of  a  class  of  substances  :  one  known  as  nitrogenous  or 
albuminoids ;  another  known  as  carbonaceous  or  carbo- 
hydrates, including  oils  or  fats  (which  are  really  carbo- 
hydrates); and,  lastly,  one  consisting  of  mineral  matters 
or  salts,  including  phosphate  of  lime,  chloride  of  sodium 
or  salt,  potash,  magnesia,  a  little  iron,  and  a  yery  small 
quantity  of  other  mineral  matter.  To  supply  the  nat- 
ural requirements  of  the  animal  for  the  restoration  of 
worn-out  tissue  and  for  the  sujoport  of  the  animal  heat  and 
of  respiration,  there  are  needed,  for  every  1,000  pounds 
of  live  weight  of  an  animal,  about  three-quarters  of  a 
pound  of  nitrogenous  substances,  eight  pounds  of  the 
carbonaceous  substances,  one-sixth  of  a  pound  of  fat, 
and  an  insignificant  quantity,  more  or  less,  of  the  various 
salts.  Thefee  are  contained  in  about  twenty  pounds  of 
good  hay.  A  certain  quantity  of  these  are  digested  and 
assimilated,  and  enter  into  the  structure  of  the  animal; 
the  indigestible  portion  and  the  surplus  unavoidably 
given,  from  the  nature  of  the  foods  at  our  command,  are 
ejected  from  the  animaV and  form  manure.  This  latter 
portion  of  the  food  and  its  disposal  being  of  great  im- 
portance will  be  more  fully  treated  of  further  on,  and 
after  the  subject  of  alimentation  for  supj^ort  and  produc- 
tion of  milk  has  been  disposed  of.  j 

After  the  natural  wants  of  the  animals  are  supplied, 
the  dairyman's  business  is  to  furnish  his  cows  with  as 
much  material  as  they  can  healtlifully  turn  into  milk 
and  cream.  Then  the  question  occurs,  Of  what  do  these 
substances  consist  ?  This  is  simply  answered  by  saying 
that  milk  has  almost  precisely  the  same  composition  as 
an  animal  has,  and  that  milk  contains  every  element  re- 
Quired  to  support  an  animal.  But  the  dairyman  wants 
to  put  an  excess^)!  fat  in  the  milk,  of  which  he  can  make 
butter  and  rich  cheese.     Hence  the  feeding  of  a  cow  for 


FOODS   FOR   USE   IX   THE   DAIRY. 


129 


dairy  product  requires  an  increased  quantity  of  the  very 
same  elements  that  are  needed  for  the  support  of  an 
animal,  with  as  much  more  fat  as  the  cow  can  be  pos- 
sibly made  to  turn  to  profitable  use  healthfully. 

The  foods  used  in  the  dairy  are  classed,  as  regards 
their  elements,  as  albuminoids,  carbo-hydrates,  fat  and 
ash.  Fiber  or  cellular  tissue  is  also  included,  because 
this  is  in  part  digestible,  and  no  doubt  that  part  which 
is  digested  may  go  to  help  support  the  animal  or  form 
useful  products.  The  following  list  includes  all  the 
foods  used  in  the  dairy,  and  to  each  one  is  appended  the 
percentage  of  digestible  matters  of  the  above-mentioned 
classes  contained  in  it.  Hay  and  green  fodder  have 
already  been  enumerated  in  a  previous  chapter. 

Composition  or  Some  Foods  Used  in  the  Dairy.    Per  Cent 
OF  Digestible  Matter. 


Oats  ground 

Corn  ground 

Pea  meal 

Cow  peas 

Sweet  potatoes 

Yams 

Cotton  seed  (whole) 

Acorns  (fresh) 

Chestnuts  (fresh) 

Pumpkins 

Wheat  bran 

Wheat  middlings 

Rye  bran... 

Pea  meal  bran 

Hominy  chop 

Wheat  starch  waste 

Corn  starch  or  glucose  meal 

Brewers'  grains  (fresh) 

Malt  sprouts 

Rice  meal 

Palm-nut  cake 

Palm-nnt,  extracted 

Linseed  oil  meal,  extracted... i    27.8 

Cotton  seed  meal,  without  hulls j    33.2 

Corn  cobs 

Milk 


"§ 

, 

1 

1' 

»o 

g-s 

^ 

O 

9.0 

43.4 

4.7 

8.4 

60.6 

4.8 

20.2 

54.4 

1.7 

19.4 

49.6 

1.1 

0.9 

28.0 

0.3 

2.1 

25.9 

0.2 

17.1 

14.7 

27.3 

2.0 

30.9 

1.5 

3.4 

35.7 

1.3 

0.4 

7.1 

0.1 

10.0 

48.5 

3.1 

8.9 

54.8 

2.6 

10.6 

50.0 

2.0 

9.2 

45.8 

1.2 

10.13 

50.20 

7.6 

3.7 

15.1 

1.8 

3.2 

19.3 

18 

4.8 

11.3 

1.2 

20.8 

43.7 

0.9 

8.6 

47.2 

8.8 

12.8 

56.2 

14.0 

17.6 

60.4 

3.1 

27.8 

33.9 

2.1 

33.2 

17.6 

16.2 

0.6 

41.7 

0.4 

3.2 

5.0 

4.5 

0.98 
1.11 
1.44 
1.33 
0.30 
0.33 
2.08 
0.43 
0.52 
0.08 
1.01 
1.00 
1.00 
0.86 
1.17 
0.37 
0.39 
0.36 
1.33 
1.16 
1.66 
1.44 
1.61 
2.30 
0.41 
0.34 


130  THE   dairyman's  MANUAL. 

The  column  of  money  values  represents  the  food  value 
of  these  substances  as  compared  with  ordinary  meadow 
hay  at  sixty-four  cents  per  100  pounds,  or  $12.80  per 
ton,  and  with  the  very  best  hay  at  $1.00  per  100  pounds 
or  $20.00  per  ton. 

It  should  be  explained  that  these  values  are  taken 
from  the  basis  of  the  chemical  composition  of  the  sub- 
stances ;  and,  as  a  means  of  comparison,  the  analysis  and 
comparative  value  of  corn  cobs  are  given,  whiph  on  this 
basis  would  seem  to  show  them  to  be  worth  forty-one 
cents  per  100  pounds.  Now  no  dairyman  in  his  right 
mind  and  with  any  experience  would  purchase  corn  cobs 
for  $8.20  per  ton.  Consequently,  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say  that  the- above  figures  are  given  for  what  they  are 
worth  only,  as  showing  the  actual  composition  of  the 
substances  mentioned,  and  to  be  used  in  the  light  of 
common  sense,  reason  and  experience,  and  as  compara- 
tive only. 

The  experienced  feeder  of  cattle  will  not  need  any  sug- 
gestions in  regard  to  the  use  of  these  foods ;  he  will  be 
able  to  select  those  which  contain  the  elements  he  wants, 
and  which  are  to  be  procured  for  the  least  money.  For 
the  benefit  and  use  of  other  feeders  and  young  dairymen 
the  following  remarks  upon  these  foods  may  be  made. 

For  the  maintenance  of  an  animal  tliere  is  required,  for 
each  1,000  pounds  of  hve  weight,  a  daily  ration  of  twenty 
pounds  of  the  best  hay,  which  contains  seventeen  and  a 
half  pounds  of  dry  substance,  which  should  consist  of 
0.7  of  a  pound  of  albuminoids,  eight  pounds  of  carbo- 
hydrates, and  0.15  of  a  pound  of  fat,  or  8.85  (eight  and 
three-quarters  pounds  in  round  numbers)  of  digestible 
nutritive  substance.  This  consists  of  nearly  twelve  parts 
of  carbonaceous  matters  for  the  support  of  respiration 
and  of  the  vital  heat,  to  one  part  of  nitrogenous  matter 
for  the  repair  of  the  muscular  tissue  worn  out.  For  a 
cow  in   ordinary  milk  there    is    required    twenty-four 


FOODS   FOR   USE   IIT  THE   DAIEY.  131 

pounds  of  dry  substance  free  from  all  moisture,  or  about 
thirty  pounds  of  the  best  hay,  containing  two  and  a  half 
pounds  of  albuminoids,  sixty-two  and  a  half  pounds  of 
carbo-hydrates,  and  0.40  of  a  pound  of  fat ;  equaling 
15.40  pounds  of  nutritive-  substance,  giving,  the  pro- 
portion of  nearly  five  and  a  half  pounds  of  carbonaceous 
matter  to  one  pound  of  nitrogenous.  This  is  precisely 
the  ratio  required  for  a  young  grov^ing  animal,  and  ac- 
cords with  the  fact  that  milk  is  a  perfect  food  in  every 
respect  for  the  maintenance  of  life  and  for  vigorous 
growth.  By  reference  to  the  last  line  in  the  above  table 
it  is  seen  that  when  the  fat  is  multiplied  by  two  and  a 
half,  to  equalize  it  in  estimated  value  with  the  carbo- 
hydrates, there  are  sixteen  parts  of  these  substances  to 
3.2  of  nitrogenous  ;  thus  making  the  ratio  of  five  of  the 
former  to  one  of  the  latter. 

The  twenty-four  pounds  of  dry  nutritive  matter  are 
contained  in  thirty  pounds  of  the  best  young  clover 
hay;  and  this  quantity  of  hay,  or  an  equivalent  of  grass, 
is  taken  as  the  standard  food  for  a  cow  in  full  milk. 
Of  this  thirty  pounds  there  are  twenty-three  diges- 
tible, consisting  of  3.21  pounds  of  albuminoids,  11.28 
pounds  of  carbo-hydrates,  and  0.63  of  a  pound  of 
fat.  This  subject  is  merely  used  in  this  chapter  as 
preliminary  to  the  following  remarks  and  a  fuller  ref- 
erence to  it  in  the  succeeding  chapter.  We  now  pro- 
ceed to  consider  seriatim  the  list  of  foods  mentioned 
in  the  table,  in  reference  to  their  use  and  adaptability 
for  the  dairy,  and  especially  in  regard  to  their  value  for 
the  production  of  milk  and  their  healthfulness.  In  this 
consideration  the  author  will  give  the  results  of  his 
practical  experience  during  many  years'  work  in  the 
dairy,  helped  by  a  large  number  of  carefully-made  ex- 
periments and  a  study  of  the  literature  of  the  subject. 

Oats  Grocnd  are  a  costly  food  for  the  production  of 
milk,  because  of  the  large  proportion  of  husk  they  con- 


132  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

tain,  but  when  they  can  be  purchased  cheaply,  as  com- 
pared with  other  foods,  they  are  especially  yaluable  for 
the  manurial  elements  in  them.  A  reference  to  the 
table  given  in  the  next  chapter  will  show  that  1,000 
pounds  of  oats  contain  considerable  potash  and  phos- 
phoric acid,  and  hence  may  at  times  be  used  on  this 
account.  But  as  there  are  other  foods  which  are  much 
more  valuable  in  this  respect,  oats  have  been  discarded 
from  the  food  list  in  use  in  the  author's  dairy.  When  they 
were  used  as  a  test  in  equal  quantities  with  coni  meal,  the 
butter  was  of  very  light  color  and  inferior  quality. 

CoRX  is  the  standard  food  grain  of  the  United  States, 
and  fortunately  is  most  excellent  for  feeding.  It  is  most 
healthful  in  its  effect  when  fed  in  a  proper  proportion 
with  other  foods  ;  and,  unless  given  in  unusual  and  inju- 
dicious excess,  never  injuriously  affects  the  milk  glands. 
The  greater  part  of  the  fat  is  in  the  husk  and  germ,  and 
is  retained  in  the  waste  product  of  the  hominy  mills 
which  separate  the  starchy  kernel  from  these  parts  of 
the  grain.  Consequently,  the  refuse  of  this  manufac- 
ture, known  as  "hominy  chop,"  would  be  worth  more 
for  feeding  to  cows  than  the  corn  itself,  if  the  husk  were 
all  digestible.  But  in  a  long  course  of  feeding  corn  meal 
we  have  found  the  fine  bolted  yellow  meal  to  give  better 
results  than  any  other  form  in  which  corn  has  been  used. 
This  will  be  more  fully  explained  hereafter. 

Peas  have  been  found  an  exceedingly  effective  food 
for  producing  milk.  In  the  feeding  test  of  a  noted 
Jersey  cow,  in  which  an  average  of  seven  pounds  of  but- 
ter daily  was  given  for  a  week,  sixteen  pounds  of  pea 
meal  were  fed  per  day,  with  sixteen  pounds  of  oat  meal 
and  tvrenty-four  pounds  of  corn  meal.  Excellent  pasture 
was  also  provided.  This  feed  would  supply  an  enormous 
excess  of  nutritive  elements  above  those  required  for 
maintenance,  giving  four  and  a  half  times  as  much  al- 


FOODS   FOR   USE  m  THE  DAIRY.  133 

buminoids,  three  times  as  much  carbo-hydrates,  and 
eight  times  as  much  fat  as  would  be  required  for  a  cow 
in  ordinary  milk.  No  doubt,  if  a  cow  can  digest  suffi- 
cient food  of  the  right  kind,  oil  for  instance,  a  kind  of 
butter  might  be  produced  which  would  far  exceed  the 
enormous  product  above  claimed  for  the  Jersey  cow.  In 
such  a  case  a  cow  would  act  as  a  filter,  and  merely  separ- 
ate the  fats  from  the  food  and  pass  it  through  the  udder. 
There  could  be  no  chemical  change  in  the  albuminoids 
or  the  carbo-hydrates  into  fat,  as  is  effected  in  the  or- 
dinary feeding  of  dairy  cows,  for  the  system  of  the  cow 
is  unable  to  do  so  much  work.  The  effect  of  the  pea 
meal  in  this  case  was  probably  due  to  its  effect  in  en- 
abling the  cow  to  digest  the  large  quantity  of  corn  and 
grass  which  was  consumed.  This  effect  of  some  foods  is 
of  great  importance,  and  will  be  treated  of  at  length  in 
the  next  chapter.  Pea  meal  seems  to  exert  a  greater 
effect  in  this  direction  than  any  other  food. 

Cow  Peas,  being  a  Southern  product,  as  well  as  the 
three  foods  which  follow  in  the  list,  and  as  Southern 
cows  consume  a  large  quantity  of  mast  in  the  forest 
ranges,  the  value  of  all  these  substances  are  worthy  of 
study  and  experiment  in  Southern  dairies.  Sweet  pota- 
toes and  yams  furnish  most  valuable  foods  for  winter 
feeding  in  the  South,  where  dairying  offers  exceedingly 
favorable  opportunities  to  experienced  and  enterprising 
farmers. 

Wheat  Bran  and  the  husks  of  grain  generally  are  of 
great  value  for  feeding,  chiefly  for  their  nitrogenous  ele- 
ments and  the  manurial  value  of  their  mineral  constit- 
uents. Of  these  waste  products,  brewers'  grains  and 
starch  or  glucose  meal  are  worth  special  note,  because  of 
the  severe  denunciations  made  against  them  by  some 
persons.  No  doubt  in  some  cases  the  objections  were 
well  founded,  and  there  has  been  fault  on  the  part  of 


134  THE   dairyman's  MANUAL. 

tlie  dairymen  who  have  used  them  in  an  improper  man- 
ner. Tliese  moist  and  highly  nitrogenous  substances 
soon  ferment  and  putrefy,  and  when  putrefactive  decom- 
position begins,  the  odor  exhaled  is  exceedingly  sti'ong 
and  offensive,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  sulphur  com- 
pounds formed.  If  these  foods  are  used  in  this  condition 
in  a  dairy,  this  odor  would  almost  certainly  affect  the 
milk,  and  would  be  found  concentrated  in  condensed 
milk  and  in  butter.  But  if  used  in  a  fresh  and  sweet 
condition,  there  is  no  reason  whatever  for  objection 
to  them.  They  are  then  wholesome,  nutritious,  clean, 
easily  digested,  and  are  usually  cheap,  and  the  milk 
produced  from  them  is  of  the  very  best  quality.  It  is 
not  the  use  of  these  foods  but  the  abuse  of  them  which 
is  objectionable.  Hence,  no  dairyman  need  hesitate  to 
use  any  of  these  foods  if  care  is  taken  to  keep  them 
sweet.  They  may  be  preserved  in  a  silo  perfectly  well 
during  the  winter,  and  for  a  short  time  in  casks  or  tight 
boxes,  if  well  rammed  down. 

Malt  Sprouts  are  the  roots  and  sprouts  of  barley 
germinated  in  the  process  of  malting.  The  nitrogen  is 
in  the  form  of  albumen  and  gluten,  and  the  carbo- 
hydrates consist  chiefly  of  sugar.  They  are  seen  to  be 
exceedingly  rich  in  albuminoids,  and  hence  are  a  very 
valuable  food  for  the  production  of  milk.  We  have  fed 
tons  of  them  to  cows  kept  for  milk  alone,  but  do  not 
favor  them  for  use  in  a  butter  dairy.  The  milk  made 
from  them  has  a  rich  sweet  taste,  and  the  sugar  in  it  is 
in  excess  of  the  average.  Hence  it  is  apt  to  sour  quickly, 
unless  very  carefully  cooled  and  kept.  The  market  price 
of  them  is  much  less  than  the  actual  feeding  value.  We 
have  bought  them  for  18  per  ton,  while  the  estimated 
feednig  value  is  $26.50.  The  practice  while  feeding 
them  in  the  author's  dairy  was  to  steep  them  in  water 
for  twelve  hours  and  pour  the  thick  slop  thus  made  upon 
the  cut  hay,  and  then  mix  the  ration  of  meal  with  the 


POODS   FOR   USE   m  THE   DAIRY.  135 

feed.  The  sweetness  of  the  sprouts  makes  this  feed  ex- 
ceedingly palatable,  and  cows  thus  fed  consumed  con- 
siderably more,  with  a  corresponding  yield  of  milk  of  the 
best  quality,  than  with  the  same  food  without  this  addi- 
tion. As  the  sprouts  are  light  and  very  dry— a  bushel 
weighing  only  eight  pounds — and  are  quite  sweet,  and 
consequently  are  greedily  eaten,  they  should  never  be  fed 
alone  and  dry,  as  they  absorb  a  very  large  quantity  of 
water  and  swell  proportionately;  hence  maybe  injurious 
to  cows  eating  them  in  this  condition. 

Rice  Meal  appears  by  its  analysis  to  be  a  very  rich 
food,  but  either  for  milk  or  butter  we  never  found  it  to 
be  worth  its  exceedingly  high  cost,  viz.,  thirty  dollars 
per  ton.  We  doubt  very  much  the  quantity  of  fat  al- 
leged by  the  analyses  to  be  contained  in  this  food.  The 
high  price  of  this  waste  of  the  rice  mills  is  said  to  be  due 
to  the  demand  for  it  as  an  adulterant  of  cheap  flour, 
and  other  similar  purposes.  It  would  be  a  useful  food 
for  horses  if  procured  at  twenty  dollars  per  ton,  but  is 
not  a  desirable  dairy  food. 

Palm  Nut  Meal,  in  our  experiments,  proved  to  be  the 
most  productive  food  for  butter.  It  costs  thirty  dollars 
per  ton,  which  is  not  profitable  to  the  dairyman,  and  it 
is  difficult  to  procure.  In  an  analysis  of  a  lot  purchased 
by  the  author,  the  oil  was  found  to  amount  to  eighteen 
per  cent,  and  was  of  a  very  high  yellow  color.  If,  as  I 
there  is  reason  to  believe,  oils  in  the  food  are  assimilated 
and  pass  into  the  milk  without  change  in  the  digestive 
process,  the  fine  bland  flavor  and  rich  color  of  palm  oil 
ought  to  make  this  meal  an  excellent  food.  The  cows 
disliked  it,  and  some  wholly  refused  it.  One  cow  in  our 
herd  which  took  it  readily  and  ate  six  pounds  per  day, 
increased  in  the  butter  yield  from  nine  pounds  weekly  to 
twelve  and  a  half.  It  is  an  unusual  article  on  the  mar- 
kets and  not  easy  to  procure,  otherwise  we  should  prefer 
it  to  cotton-seed  meal  at  the  same  price. 


136  THE   DATRTMAX'S   MA>sTAL. 

Linseed  Oil  Meal  is  now  made  by  what  is  known  as 
the  new  process,  that  of  extracting  the  oil  by  means  of 
benzine  or  naphtha,  by  which  the  oil  is  practically  all 
removed  from  the  seed.  The  old  process  of  pressure 
between  heated  plates  left  eleven  to  fourteen  per  cent 
of  oil  in  the  residue.  As  linseed  oil  has  a  laxative  and 
most  excellent  effect  upon  the  digestive  organs,  the  old 
process  meal  was  a  useful  food  for  fattening  cattle,  but 
was  not  a  desirable  food  for  dairy  cows  on  account  of  the 
result  on  the  butter,  wliicli  was  wliite,  soft,  greasy,  and 
of  a  flat  oily  flavor.  The  new  process  meal  is  free  from 
some  of  the  objectionable  features  of  the  old  process  meal, 
and  to  some  extent  is  useful  in  dairies,  but  after  frequent 
attempts  to  use  it  with  satisfaction  we  abandoned  it  in 
favor  of  cotton  seed  meal.  At  thirty  dollars  per  ton — its 
present  value — it  is  much  dearer  than  several  other  foods 
in  the  above  list  which  are  preferable  in  other  ways  as 
well  as  for  their  cheapness. 

CoTTOX  Seed  Meal,  when  used  in  moderation,  is  a  very 
useful  food  for  dairy  cows.  It  is  the  reverse  of  laxative, 
and  tends  rather  to  costiveness.  This,  however,  gives 
it  an  especial  value  when  cows  are  upon  grass,  or  Avhen  it 
is  mixed  with  bran.  When  it  was  first  introduced  in  the 
Northern  States  as  a  food  for  cows — and  the  author  was 
the  first  to  test  it  in  his  dairy,  twelve  years  or  more  ago— it 
was  sold  at  eighteen  dollars  per  ton,  and  was  an  exceed- 
ingly cheap  food.  Since  then  it  has  become  widely  pop- 
ular, and  has  advanced  in  value  fifty  per  cent.  Still,  for 
the  nutriment  it  contains,  it  is  cheap,  being  valued 
for  its  nutritive  elements  at  forty-six  dollars  per  ton,  as 
compared  with  the  best  clover  hay  at  twenty  dollars  per 
ton.  It  is  very  rich  in  nitrogenous  substances,  and  is 
consequently  an  unsafe  food  for  cows  if  fed  to  excess. 
The  cotton  plant  possesses  some  very  powerful  medicinal 
qualities.  The  root  produces  abortion,  and  the  seed  cer- 
tainly has  some  of  the  same  active  effect  upon  the  uterus. 


FOODS  FOR  USE  IK  THE  DAIRY.         137 

The  meal  has  a  decided!}'  inflammatory  effect  on  the  milk 
glands,  and  therefore  is  to  be  used  only  in  yery  moderate 
quantities.  The  author  has  fed  it  to  cows  from  four 
pounds  daily  down  to  one  pound,  and  while  feeding  two 
pounds  a  day,  with  twice  as  much  bran  and  corn  meal,  the 
butter  product  of  a  cow  experimented  upon  ran  up  to  two 
pounds  per  day;  when  four  pounds  daily  was  fed,  with 
the  same  quantity  of  corn  meal  and  bran,  the  peld  of 
butter  Avas  only  1.83  pounds  per  day  for  a  few  days,  when 
an  attack  of  garget  was  brought  on,  and  for  fourteen 
days  afterwards  the  yield  was  less  than  a  pound,  (See 
chapter  on  Feeding. )  As  this  result  happened  frequently 
with  other  cows  in  the  dairy,  while  hired  men  could 
scarcely  be  restrained  from  using  too  much  of  it,  and  a 
fine  litter  of  Berkshire  pigs  were  sacriflced  to  this  temp- 
tation to  feed  the  meal  to  excess,  its  use  was  discarded. 
With  oue  pound  only,  used  with  twice  the  quantity  of 
corn  meal  and  bran  for  a  single  ration,  cotton  seed  meal 
may  be  used  safely  ;  but  as  any  excess  over  that  is  apt  to 
be  injurious,  it  is  advisable  to  mix  the  feed  in  bulk,  so 
that  the  ration  cannot  be  exceeded  by  any  accident. 
This  meal  gives  a  high  color,  great  solidity,  a  fine,  waxy 
texture,  and  a  rich  nutty  flavor  to  the  butter.  The  latter 
fact  seems  to  corroborate  the  belief  that  the  oils  of  the 
food  really  go  into  the  milk  unchanged,  through  the 
digestive  organs,  in  which  they  are  emulsified. 

As  the  digestibility  of  a  food  is  really  the  measure  of 
its  value,  and  the  analyses  above  given  have  no  reference 
to  this  point,  it  is  a  most  important  part  of  the  dairy- 
man's business  to  make  careful  tests  in  his  dairy  of  the 
effects  of  food  in  regard  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
the  product.  Animals  differ  very  much  in  respect  of 
their  digestive  ability.  Some  cows  will  make  a  very  fair 
profit  from  the  same  food  upon  which  other  cows  will 
make  a  serious  loss  ;  and  these  results,  vital  to  the 
interests  of  the  owner,  can  only  be  ascertained  by  most 


13S  THE  DAlRYMAN^S  MAI^-ITAL. 

careful  and  repeated  tests.  While  all  the  facts  given  in 
this  work  are  vouched  for  by  the  author,  when  related  as 
his  own  personal  experience,  and  may,  therefore,  be  taken 
as  a  guide  by  the  reader,  yet  this  guidance  can  only  be 
general  and  not  specific  in  its  nature,  and  it  may  not 
answer  in  every  case.  A  noted  and  most  successful 
breeder  of  fine  dairy  cows  was  apt  to  say  to  an  intending 
purchaser :  "  This  cow  has  done,  is  doing,  and  will  do, 
with  me,  thus  and  so ;  but  I  cannot  guaranty  that  she 
will  do  the  same  with  you  or  any  other  man.  If  she  is 
managed  as  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  doing,  she  will 
probably  do  as  she  has  done  ;  but  I  cannot  promise  any- 
thing after  she  leaves  my  hands.''  The  author  feels 
much  the  same  way  in  regard  to  the  results  obtained  in 
his  dairy.  He  has  had  twenty-five  years'  experience  in 
feeding  cows  and  in  practical  dairy  work ;  obtained  a 
scientific  education,  in  which  animal  physiology  and 
medicine  bore  the  greater  share  ;  and  has  followed  dairy- 
ing in  preference  to  any  other  pursuit,  because  it  was  a 
work  of  pleasure  and  a  favorite  object  for  study  and  ex- 
periment. The  results  which  were  reached  have  been 
carefully  noted,  after  repeated  observations  and  tests ; 
and  while,  therefore,  every  confidence  may  be  given  to 
what  is  written  in  this  work,  yet  every  dairyman  should 
make  tests  for  himself  as  an  important  part  of  his  busi- 
ness, lest  difference  in  circumstances  might  mislead. 
This  is  for  his  own  interests  and  conducive  to  his  own 
profit. 

Every  cow  eats,  and  there  is  not  much  difference  in 
the  consumptive  ability  of  good  and  poor  cows.  To  feed 
a  cow  costs  at  least  twenty-five  cents  daily,  and  the  labor 
costs  ten  cents  more.  If  a  cow  then  makes  one  pound 
of  butter  per  day,  and  the  butter  is  sold  for  thirty-five 
cents,  the  manure  left  and  the  calf  are  the  only  sources 
of  profit.  If  a  cow  makes  ten  pounds  of  butter  a  week 
there  is  a  gain  of  seventeen  cents  per  day,  a  very  satis- 


FOODS  FOR  rSE  IN^  THE  DAIRY.  139 

factory  profit.  But  if  the  cow  makes  but  half  a  pound 
there  is  a  loss  of  this  sum,  which  is  ruinous.  It  is  there- 
fore indispensable  that  the  dairyman  should  test  his  cows 
very  carefully,  and  know  the  actual  product  of  each. 
"J'he  tests  made  are — first,  for  milk  and  cream  ;  second, 
for  butter  ;  third,  for  quality  of  the  butter  ;  and,  fourth, 
for  feeding.  It  is  clear  that  all  these  must- be  included  m 
any  test  to  determine  the  value  of  the  animal.  Even  if  no 
more  than  ten  cows  are  kept,  such  tests  should  be  made. 
A  test  is  wholly  useless  unless  it  is  based  on  certainties 
and  made  with  precise  accuracy.  Such  tests  are  as  fully 
scientific  as  if  made  by  a  professor  in  an  experiment 
station,  for  science  is  no  more  than  exact  truth  of  which 
the  reasons  and  results  are  ascertained,  and  which  can, 
therefore,  be  made  the  basis  for  establishing  principles 
upon.  Any  intelligent  farmer  can  do  this  for  himself  in 
his  dairy.  Indeed  no  one  else  can  do  it  for  him,  for 
milk  varies  in  character,  and  cream  even  is  equally 
various  ;  while  the  cows  and  the  results  of  feeding  differ 
so  much  that  no  certain  rule  can  be  laid  down  from  the 
results  reached  in  any  one  case  to  determine  another. 
First,  then,  the  milk  of  each  cow  is  to  be  weighed. 
This  is  very  little  trouble.  A  spring  balance  hung  in  the 
stable  is  used  to  weigh  the  pail  with  each  cow's  milk  in 
it  separately.  That  the  person  who  does  the  weighing, 
if  the  master  is  not  there,  shall  make  no  mistake,  the  gross 
weight  is  taken  and  marked  down  by  each  milker,  on  a 
paper  pad  hung  in  the  stable  with  a  pencil  attached  to  it. 
If  the  owner  is  there — and  he  should  be  to  look  after  his 
business,  which  otherwise  will  not  look  after  him — he 
should  do  the  weighing  and  marking  down,  and  then 
he  may  take  down  the  net  weight  of  the  milk,  deducting 
the  known  weight  of  the  pail.  In  our  dairy  every  milk 
pail  used  was  of  precisely  the  same  weight,  and  made  so 
purposely  by  the  addition  of  solder  on  the  bottom  inside. 
A  twelve-quart  pail  of  good  tin,  with  a  cover  over  half  of 


140  THE   DAFRYMAI^'S   MANUAL. 

it,  and  a  ring  of  zinc  plate  around  the  bottom  to  prevent 
wearing,  will  weigh  three  pounds,  or  can  be  made  to  do 
so  by  the  addition  of  some  solder.  Then  it  is  quite  a 
simple  matter  to  get  the  exact  weight  of  tlie  milk  of 
each  cow  everyday.  And  it  is  best  to  do  this  constantly 
•lis  a  rule,  for  it  will  be  very  useful  in  discovering  any- 
tliing  tiiiit  may  have  gone  wrong  with  a  cow,  and  gives 
an  mimediate  opportunity  of  rectifying  it.  The  weights 
of  the  milk  are  set  down  in  this  way,  a  separate  pad 
being  hung  behind  each  cow  and  having  its  name  written 
upon  it.  In  our  experience  the  yields  of  milk  given  by 
the  cows,  when  regularly  fed  and  systematically  managed, 
differ  so  little  from  day  to  day,  even  in  unusual  changes 
of  weather,  that  each  pad  easily  distinguishes  the  partic- 
ular cow  to  which  it  belongs.  The  weights  are.  taken  to 
half  pounds,  which  is  near  enough  for  all  purposes. 

At  stated  times,  say  on  a  special  day  in  the  week,  a 
portion  of  the  cow's  milk  is  dipped  up  from  the  pail  into 
a  cream  gauge  and  left  to  stand  for  the  cream  to  rise. 
The  cream  gauges  are  ranged  in  a  frame  made  like  a 
narrow  box  having  no  sides  and  a  handle  upon  the  top 
to  carry  it  by.  The  gauges  are  set  in  this  box  so  that 
they  can  be  carried  easily  to  the  milk-house  when  they 
are  filled,  and  each  cow's  name  is  written  over  the  place 
in  the  frame  where  the  gauge  is  set.  The  proportion  of 
cream  is  then  seen  under  precisely  the  same  circum- 
stances, and,  of  course,  is  an  accurate  test  of  the  relative 
cream  value  of  each  cow's  milk. 

The  butter  test  is  made  in  a  small  churn,  that  used  in 
our  dairy  being  the  smallest  sized  Blanchard  churn, 
easily  making  as  little  as  a  pound  of  butter  at  one  time. 
The  particular  cow's  milk  is  kept  separate  and  set  by 
itself,  and  the  cream  is  skimmed  precisely  the  same  as 
from  the  other  milk,  and  is  kept  the  same  as  the  other 
cream,  except  that  more  milk  is  mixed  with  it  to  help  in 
the  churning.     The  churning  is  done  under  the  Same 


FOODS   FOR   USE   IN   THE   DAIKY.  141 

conditions  as  the  general  churning,  and  this  test  deter- 
mines not  only  the  quality  of  the  milk  and  the  butter, 
but  the  time  occupied  in  the  churning,  which  is  quite 
important.  The  butter  made  is  accurately  weighed,  and 
compared  with  the  quality*  of  the  milk,  and  that  of  the 
cream  known  from  the  test  in  the  per  cent  glass.  The 
buttermilk  is  also  tested  by  the  ether  test,  which  is  by 
using  a  long  test-tube  marked  with  equal  spaces — tenths 
of  an  inch — and  putting  into  it  a  certain  quantity  of  but- 
termilk, then  a  small  quantity  of  ether,  and  shaking  the 
tube  for  a  few  minutes,  after  which  it  is  set  to  rest,  and 
any  butter  in  it  appears  on  the  top  dissolved  in  the  ether. 
The  tube  is  set  in  a  warm  place  and  the  ether  evapo- 
rates quite  quickly,  leaving  a  film  of  butter  on  the  butter- 
milk. This  test  is  not  of  much  practical  importance,  be- 
cause a  small  quantity  of  butter  will  remain  in  the  but- 
termilk in  spite  of  the  best  churning;  but  it  serves  to 
show  that  some  milk  leaves  more  butter  in  the  butter- 
milk than  others.  But  when  all  the  different  miilks  are 
mixed,  the  butter  which  escapes  from  one  milk  may  be 
caught  and  gathered  by  the  other  milk,  and  while  the 
butter  globules  of  one  cow's  milk  are  so  small  that  some 
will  be  lost  when  her  cream  is  churned  alone,  they  are 
picked  up  by  tlie  Lirger  globules  of  other  milks.  This 
fact  is  proved  by  the  n^e  of  a  microscope,  which  shows 
clearly  how  the  milk  of  various  cows  differs  in  this  re- 
spect. The  quality  of  the  butter  is  learned  by  taste  and 
by  the  melting  point,  which  indicates  its  hardness  and 
firmness.  This  is  an  important  test,  because  at  times  the 
cream  of  some  cows  varies  in  character,  and  especially 
as  the  cow  approaches  a  new  calving  the  flavor  becomes 
quite  distinct  and  will  affect  the  butter  of  other  cows. 

The  feeding  test  is  the  most  interesting  and  soon 
gives  the  dairyman  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  value  of  his 
cows.  The  food  is  changed  in  quantity — decreased  or 
increased — and  the  result  is  noted  by  the  previously  de- 


142  THE   dairyman's   MAI^^UAL. 

scribed  tests.  In  our  dairy  we  have  found  au  iiiCTcase  of 
food  at  times  to  reduce  the  yield  of  milk  and  a  decrease 
to  have  the  opposite  result.  One  specially  determined 
fact,  however,  was  clearly  proved  by  some  hundreds  of 
tests,  and  this  was  that  the  food  had  a  most  important 
result  upon  the  product  of  butter.  This  was  denied  by 
the  Director  of  the  Xew  York  State  Experiment  Station 
at  the  time,  but  his  later  tests  fully  corroborated  the  ac- 
curacy of  our  statement,  which  has  been  fully  accepted 
by  practical  dairymen.  Hence,  foods  rich  in  fatty  mat- 
ter are  the  best  for  the  product  of  butter,  and  the  choice 
of  those  foods  which  are  proved  by  careful  tests  made  in 
this  manner,  in  each  particular  dairy,  is  odc  of  the  most 
important  parts  of  the  business  of  dairying. 

CoNDiMEXTAL  Foods  are  those  substances  which  arc 
used  to  supply  certain  requiremeuts  of  the  system,  but 
are  supposed  to  be  only  suj)plementary  to  the  ordinary 
foods.  Tlie  term  food  includes  any  substance  used  for  the 
nutrition  of  animals,  and  we  must  also  include  water,  for 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  body  of  an  animal  consists 
of  this  fluid,  and  salt  as  well,  for  this  substance  enters 
largely  into  the  composition  of  an  animal.  Tlie  follow- 
ing table  gives  the  quantity  of  salt  (sodium  chloride)  con- 
tained iu  the  various  parts  and  secretions  of  an  animal  : 

SALT   CONTAINED   IN  AN   ANIMAL. 

In  150  pounds  of  live  weight  4  pounds  163  c:rains. 

In  the  blood -  3.:39  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  female  blood 3.90  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  ash  of  blood - 54.76  parts  in     100 

In  the  liquor  sanguinis 6.98  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  pulmonary  mucous 5.82  parts  iu  1 ,000 

In  the  sebaceous  matter  of  the  skin  (oily 

secretion) 37.00  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  perspiration 2.23  parts  iu  1 ,000 

In  the  secretion  of  the  eye  (tears) 13.00  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  saliva  of  the  mouth 84  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  saliva  of  parotid  glands -  3.06  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  gastric  Ihiid.- -  1.70  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  pancreatic  fluid -  7.36  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  bile  (of  the  ox) 15.00  parts  iu  1,000 

In  the  lymph 5.00  parts  in  1,000 

In  the  bones  of  an  ox 3.45  parts  in     100 

lo  tho  bones  of  a  man -.  1.20pai'tsin    100 


FOODS   FOR   USE   IN   THE   DAIRY.  143 

The  quantity  of  the  above-named  fluids  secreted  every 
twenty-four  hours  is  very  large;  in  a  man  of  140  pounds' 
weight  the  amount  is  as  follows  : 


Pounds. 

Saliva--.: 2.88 

Gastric  fluid-.. --14.00 

Bile-- 3.43 

Total - 35.03 


Ibnnds. 

Pancreatic  fluid 1.87 

Lymph 3.86 


The  quantity  secreted  by  a  cow  is  even  larger  in  pro- 
portion to  its  greater  weight. 

These  figures  indicate  and  even  prove  that  salt  is  a 
most  indispensable  article  of  food.  The  quantity  se- 
creted by  a  horse  or  an  ox,  in  which  animals  these  fluids 
are  produced  more  copiously  than  in  any  others,  has  not 
been  determined,  for  obvious  reasons,  but  it  must  be 
several  times  larger  than  the  human  secretions.  All 
this  goes  to  show  the  absolute  and  indispensable  neces- 
sity for  an  adequate  supply  of  salt  as  food — not  as  a  con- 
diment or  a  relish  to  the  food,  but  as  necessary  aliment, 
without  which  animals  cannot  perform  their  functions 
of  digestion  and  nutrition,  and  make  a  healthful  and 
satisfactory  growth. 

But  it  is  also  proper  to  make  some  computation  of  the 
discharge  of  this  substance  from  the  system  in  the  waste 
matter  excreted.  The  animal  system  is  in  constant 
course  of  destruction  and  renewal.  A  man  of  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  pounds'  weight  discharges  in  all  the 
excreted  matter  seven  and  one-quarter  pounds  every 
twenty-four  hours,  that  is,  the  whole  body  requires  com- 
plete renewal  every  twenty  days,  and  an  absorption  of 
seven  and  one-quarter  pounds  daily  of  various  matters. 
An  ox  or  a  horse  performing  the  same  vital  functions  re- 
quires a  proportionate  supply  to  make  up  its  proportion- 
ate waste.  So  that  as  a  large  quantity  of  salt  is  thrown 
off  in  this  waste  every  day,  an  equal  amount  must  be 
supplied  to  restore  the  loss,     It  has  been  calculated  that 


144  THE 

an  ox  or  a  cow  requires  two  ounces  of  salt  daily  to  re- 
plenish the  system  ;  a  horse  needs  one  and  one-half 
ounces,  and  a  sheej^  one  dram.  This  is  in  addition  to 
that  which  is  naturally  contained  io  the  food. 

How  seldom  does  any  farmer  provide  his  animals  with 
this  indispensable  article  of  food  ?  How  much  disorder 
of  the  digestive  functions  may  be  and  is  due  to  this  neg- 
lect ?  Nearly  all  the  ailments  of  farm  animals  are  pro- 
duced by  disturbances  of  the  digestive  organs.  Is  it  not 
just  and  reasonable  to.  assume  that  the  absence  of  this  in- 
dispensable salt  is  the  cause  of  much  of  this  disease  and 
the  loss  of  thousands  of  animals  for  want  of  a  necessary 
part  of  their  nutriment. 

But  salt  given  in  excess  is  an  acrid  poison,  producing 
corrosioD  of  the  gastric  membranes  and  quick  death.  It 
is  therefore  to  be  given  with  the  food  in  regular  and  safe 
proportion  ;  or  if  given  alone  should  be  given  daily  in  the 
needed  quantity,  as  above  mentioned. 

The  salt  barrel  should  be  kept  adjacent  to  the  feeding 
box,  and  to  avoid  accidents  by  any  animal  trespassing 
and  taking  too  much,  the  barrel  should  have  a  safe,  close- 
fitting  cover,  or  a  well  made  bin  should  be  used.  The 
regular  ration,  given  with  each  feed,  should  be  measured 
out  accurately.  One  ounce  for  each  cow  at  each  feed,  or 
half  a  pint  for  fifteen  cows,  is  the  proper  allowance. 
This  will  be  equal  to  one  pound  or  sixteen  ounces  for  the 
fifteen  cows.-*- 

There  are  times  when  the  appetite  of  the  cows  will  fail 
from  repletion,  sameness  of  food,  or  other  causes,  w^hich 
are  removed  by  a  change  of  feeding.  The  addition  to 
the  food  of  some  agreeable  flavoring  will  at  once  have  a 
good  effect.  We  once  procured  a  barrel  of  molasses  for 
use  in  the  dairy,  and  once  a  week  gave  at  first  a  quart  of 
it  to  our  herd  of  fifteen  cows,  mixed  with  the  dry  meal, 
a  little  water  being  added  to  make  the  mixture  even. 
The  zest  thus  given  to  the  food  was  conspicuous  by  this 


FOODS    FOR   USE   I:N^   THE   DAIRY.  145 

small  quantity,  and  it  was  given  in  larger  quantities,  a 
gallon  to  the  fifteen  cows,  or  about  twelve  ounces  to  a  cow, 
in  two  feeds  once  a  week.  While  the  effect  on  the  milk 
was  not  apparently  worth  noting,  the  result  upon  the 
cows  was  quite  marked,  and  had  the  molasses' been  given 
in  the  first  small  quantity  every  day  it  is  probable  that  it 
would  have  been  repaid  with  profit. 

A  useful  condimental  food  for  use  when  the  appetite 
appears  weak  may  be  made  as  follows  :  linseed  meal, 
j)ure,  fifty  pounds,  brown  sugar"  ten  pounds,  corn  meal 
one  hundred  pounds,  ground  gentian  one  pound,  ground 
turmeric  one  pound,  ground  ginger  one -half  a  pound, 
caraway,  anise  and  coriander  seed  one-quarter  of  a 
pound  each,  finely  ground,  sulphur  two  pounds,  salt  two 
pounds,  cream  of  tartar  one-half  a  pound,  all  well  mixed. 
Two  pounds  of  this  is  given  in  place  of  as  much  corn 
meal  once  or  twice  in  a  week.  This  subject  should  not 
be  dismissed  without  some  remark  upon  improper  foods, 
or  more  correctly,  injurious  substances  taken  with  the 
foods.  Much  injury  is  sometimes  done  by  these  un- 
welcome additions  to  the  food. 

In  some  investigations  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the 
effects  of  various  foods  upon  animals,  and  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  functions  of  nutrition,  it  was  found  that  the 
red  color  of  madder  roots,  which  were  cut  and  minoled 
with  the  food,  appeared  after  a  time  in  the  bones,  which  ; 
became  of  a  pink  color.  Fowls,  pigs,  and  rj^Jbbits  were 
experimented  upon  with  similar  results.  In  tiie  pigs,  after 
a  continued  feeding,  the  fat  became  tinged  with  pink, 
while  no  effect  was  found  upon  the  flesh,  probably  from 
the  difficulty  of  noting  any  change  of  tint,  by  reason  of 
the  sameness  of  the  color. 

Such  an  experiment  is  not  needed  to  add  proof  to  the 
fact  that  food  has  a  very  great  effect  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  flesh  of  any  animal,  and  necessarily  upon  the 
milk,     The  flesh  and  fat  of  pigs  fed  upon  beech  mast  is 


146  THE   DAIRYMAJs^'s   MANUAL. 

well  known  to  be  soft  and  oily,  while  peas-fed  pork 
is  firm  and  liard,  and  even  more  so  than  that  made  by 
feeding  corn.  The  flesh  of  sheep  fed  upon  the  short 
sweet  herbage  of  mountain  pastures,  and  which  consists 
in  part  of  resinous  plants,  as  heather  and  various  other 
species  of  the  heath  family,  is  remarkable  for  its  peculiar 
and  agreeable  flavor.  The  hunter  easily  recognizes  the 
flavor  of  hemlock  in  the  flesh  of  the  northern  hares,  which 
feed  upon  it  in  the  winter;  while  the  spruce  or  swamp  par- 
tridge indicates  by  the  flavor  of  its  flesh  the  various  foods 
which  it  has  subsisted  upon  for  some  time  before  it  has 
been  killed.  It  is  the  same  with  trout,  the  flesh  of 
which  is  of  a  bright  red  when  it  has  been  taken  in  cold, 
clear,  gravelly,  or  rocky  streams,  and  of  a  muddy  white 
when  it  has  lived  in  water  flowing  from  swamps.  The 
law  is  general  ;  and  it  is  to  the  differences  of  food  in  a 
great  measure  that  the  differences  in  the  flavors  of  meats 
of  various  kinds  are  due.  If  we  feed  domestic  fowls 
upon  the  food  of  the  prairie  hen,  and  let  them  roost  out 
of  doors  in  the  pure  air,  the  flesh  will  be  vastly  superior 
in  flavor  to  that  of  a  fowl  cooped  up  in  a  confined  and 
filthy  yard,  or  fattened  in  a  poulterer's  cellar  upon  cheap 
and  damaged  grain.  And  if  these  differences  are  so 
noticeable  in  other  animals,  they  cannot  fail  to  exist  in 
regard  to  cows. 

Indeed,  every  one  knows  how  quickly  strong-flavored 
weeds  will  scent  and  flavor  butter,  and  it  has  happened 
in  our  own  dairy  that  the  milk  of  cows,  in  whose  stable 
a  heap  of  half-decayed  frozen  turnips  were  kept  but  one 
day  and  night,  smelled  so  strongly  as  to  be  detected  in 
the  milk  room  immediately  upon  entering  it,  and  .the 
pans  could  be  distinguished  by  the  scent  with  the  great- 
est ease.  And  yet  none  of  the  turnips  had  been  fed  ;  it 
was  merely  the  air  of  the  stable  impregnated  with  the 
odor  which  conveyed  the  scent  to  the  milk  through  the 
animals'  lungs  and  blood, 


FEEDING   RATIOITS.  147 

If  all  this  is  true — and  we  think  none  will  question  it, 
for  it  is  unquestionable — then  with  wiiat  justice  can  a 
dairymaa  insist  that  to  devour  the  dung  from  a  horse 
stable  will  not  harm  a  dairy  cow,  or  to  keep  cows  in 
stables  reeking  with  filth  will  not  infect  the  milk  ?  A 
w^ell-known  dairyman  once  observed  of  milk  from  such  a 
stable,  that  *'it  was  hardly  strong  enough  for  good  man- 
ure, but  it  might  do  for  that  purpose  better  than  for 
food." 


CHAPTER    XII. 
FEEDING    RATIONS. 

When  the  dairyman  feeds  his  cows  he  is  beginning  his 
work  of  manufacturing.  He  is  supplying  bis  machines 
with  the  raw  material.  We  have  seen  what  these  mate- 
rials are,  and  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  to  be  used; 
let  us  now  study  the  character  of  the  machines  used,  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  may  best  be.  supplied. 

Food  is  given  to  the  cow  to  be  digested.  Digestion 
consists  of  the  mastication  or  grinding  of  the  food  in 
the  mouth;  the  maceration  of  it  in  the  paunch  or  large 
stomach — the  first  and  second  compartments  of  the 
quadruple  organ  possessed  by  all  ruminants  ;  the  return 
of  it  in  small  portions — the  cud — into  the  mouth  for  a 
second  grinding  ;  the  further  maceration  and  pulping  of 
it  in  the  third  stomach  or  maniples  between  tlie  rubbing 
plates  ,or  leaves  with  which  this  part  of  the  organ  is 
furnished,  and  its  partial  solution  in  the  true  digestive 
stomach  where  it  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  gastric 
fluid.  The  food  then  passes  into  the  intestines.  It  is 
in  the  form  of  a  semi-fluid  grayish  mass,  containing  still 
some  undissolved  food. 

The  undissolved  portions  of  the  food  are  chiefly  the 
nitrogenous  matters  or  albuminoids ;  tliQ  starch  has  been 


148  THE    D AIR YM ax's   MAXUAL. 

dissolved  and  changed  to  sugar,. and  the  oilj  part  of  the 
food  has  been  worked  up  by  the  mastication  and  tritura- 
tion in  the  stomachs  into  an  emulsion  with  the  other 
constituents  of  the  food.  In  tlie  bowels,  the  food  is 
subjected  to  the  action  of  the  bile  which  is  poured  out 
from  the  liver,  and  the  fluid  of  the  pancreas,  the  ofiBce 
of  which  is  not  yet  clearly  established.  The  changes ' 
which  are  effected  in  the  intestines  are  the  complete 
conversion  of  any  remaining  starch  into  sugar ;  the 
albuminoid  substances  are  brought  into  the  condition 
of  soluble  albumen,  and  the  fats  are  still  further  divided 
and  made  into  a  more  j^erfect  emulsion. 

Digestion  is  then  completed.  The  food  is  brought 
into  contact  with  the  absorbent  vessels  of  the  mucous 
membrane  of  the  intestines,  and  the  process  of  assimila- 
tion begins.  The  dissolved  food  and  the  emulsified  fat 
are  then  absorbed  by  the  very  small  capillary  blood 
vessels  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach  and  in- 
testines, and  pass  on  with  the  venous  blood  into  the  liver 
and  lungs,  where  it  is  purified  by  the  combustion  of  the 
excess  of  carbon  by  which  the  animal  heat  is  sustained, 
and  the  purified  fluid  is  poured  into  the  heart  and  mixed 
with  the  arterial  blood;  thence  carried  to  every  extremity 
of  the  system  it  repairs  the  waste  and  adds  new  matter 
to  the  growing  animal. 

The  fat,  in  the  form  of  an  emulsion  or  exceedingly 
intimate  mixture,  in  particles  so  fine  as  to  be  invisible,  is 
absorbed  directly  into  the  circulation  and  is  carried  on 
with  the  blood  to  be  deposited  where  the  exigencies  of 
the  system  require  it.  It  is  deposited  in  the  tissues,  or 
in  masses  in  various  parts  of  the  bod}^  and  in  females,  at 
and  after  the  birth  of  their  young,  is  carried  in  large 
part  to  the  udder,  where  it  is  first  deposited  in  the  gland- 
ular cells  of  the  udder,  and  is  then  mingled  with  the 
copious  secretion  known  as  milk. 

Thus  the  milk  of  the  cow  is  a  direct  product  of  the 


^EEDIKG   RATIONS.  149 

food,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  fatty  part  of  it  is  carried 
without  change  directly  from  the  absorbent  vessels  of  the 
intestines  to  the  milk  glands,  v/bere  it  is  separated  from 
the  blood  and  poured  into  the  milk  ducts.  This,  how- 
over,  will  be  fully  discussed  hereafter.  Such  is  the 
machinery  and  function  of  the  cow  in  the  disposal  of 
the  food. 

It  should  be  obvious  to  the  intelligent  reader  that  the 
provision  of  suitable  food  for  the  cow  is  most  important, 
both  to  guard  against  waste  and  to  furnish  a  sufficient 
supply  for  the  full  and  profitable  employment  of  the 
digestive  organs.  For  whatever  there  is  in  the  food  that 
cannot  be  assimilated  is  discharged  from  the  bowels,  and 
whatever  is  assimilated  that  is  not  reqaired  and  cannot 
be  healthfully  disposed  of  by  the  animal,  becomes  a 
source  of  mischief  and  causes  disease. 

Food  is  given  to  animals  for  three  distinct  purposes  : 
first,  for  the  growth  of  a  young  animal ;  second,  for  the 
fattening  of  a  mature  animal ;  third,  for  the  production 
of  milk  and  butter.  The  last  of  these  is  more  particu- 
larly to  our  purpose.  The  practice  of  feeding  for  the 
dairy  is  a  truly  scientific  process.  The  foods  given  must 
be  chosen  particularly  for  the  end  in  view. 

The  results  of  experience,  properly  arranged  and  re- 
duced to  rules  for  practice,  are  as  truly  scientific  as  if  they 
were  evolved  from  the  most  abstruse  theories.  In  the 
practice  of  feeding  we  are  guided  by  two  principles,  viz., 
tliat  certain  products  are  composed  of  certain  elements, 
and  that  if  these  elements  are  supplied  to  an  animal  we 
may  secure  the  desired  products. 

No  dairy  can  be  profitably  worked  on  grass  alone. 
The  object  of  feeding  any  animals,  especially  cows,  is  to 
use  cheap  feed  and  make  more  valuable  meat,  milk,  butter 
or  cheese  out  of  it.  In  this  lies  the  skill  and  the  profit  of 
the  dairyman's  work.  It  is  indispensable,  then,  that  he 
should  fully  understand  the  nature  of  the  feeding  sub- 


150  THE  DAIRYMAK's  MAJTlTAL.     • 

stances  he  works  with.  The  principles  of  feeding  are 
these:  an  animal  digests  its  food  and  a  process  of  assimi- 
lation follows  ;  assimilation  is  the  conversion  of  the  di- 
gested food  into  blood,  and  then  into  flesh,  milk,  fat  or 
butter.  Xone  of  these  products  can  come  into  existence 
unless  the  elements  of  them  are  given  in  the  food.  No 
food  can  be  changed  into  these  products  unless  it  is 
digestible.  Therefore,  to  produce  milk  and  butter  most 
profitably,  the  dairyman  must  choose  such  food  as  is 
the  most  easily  digested — that  contains  the  most  of  the 
elements  that  are  required — and  he  must  give  them  in 
such  quantity  that  the  cow  can  digest  them  most  per- 
fectly and  up  to  the  largest  quantity  possible. 

A  large  variety  of  food  substances  are  at  the  service 
of  the  dairyman,  all  differing  in  market  value  as  well  as 
feeding  value,  some  being  cheap  and  some  dear.  A  com- 
parison of  these  foods  will  show  hovr  some  may  be  pro- 
cured for  less  money  than  others,  and  perhaps  produce 
cheaper  milk  and  butter. 

But  in  choosing  foods  the  experimental  tests  and  chem- 
ical investigations  of  the  German  agricultural  schools 
will  be  of  much  value.  While  animals  differ  individually, 
yet  on  the  whole  there  is  a  universal  law  of  Nature  which 
controls  natural  operations,  and  the  general  causes  being 
the  same,  and  bound  by  these  universal  laws,  the  results 
are  very  similar.  So  that  what  happens  in  one  herd  or 
in  many,  as  the  result  of  feeding  certain  foods  to  cows, 
is  most  likely  to  happen  to  all,  when  the  circumstances 
of  the  feeding  are  similar.  Hence  the  method  of  feed- 
ing is  of  much  importance. 

In  considering  this  question  we  will  assume,  as  the 
majority  of  dairymen  are  apt  to  believe,  that  practical 
experience  is  worth  much  more  than  chemical  analysis 
and  scientific  theory,  and  the  following  results  of  some 
careful  tests  made  by  the  writer  with  a  Jersey  cow 
which  had  been  fed  and  kept  as  a  test  cow  for  three 


PEEDING  RATIOKS.  151 

years,  may  be  relied  upon  as  giving  an  accurate  value  to 
the  feeds  mentioned ;  the  more  so,  as  they  have  been 
confirmed  by  actual  feeding  in  a  dairy  of  fifteen  cows  for 
a  still  longer  time.  It  is  easy  to  trace  in  these  figures 
the  difference  between  the  feeds  given,  which  is  really 
the  test  of  the  values.  The  cow  was  twenty-two  months 
old  when  record  began,  and  had  calved  two  months  pre- 
viously.' She  was  a  pure-bred  Jersey,  of  a  noted  butter 
family.  The  feed  through  all  the  winters  included  five 
pounds  of  clover  hay  cut  and  wetted  and  mixed  with  the 
feed  morning  and  noon,  and  five  pounds  of  loose  hay  at 
noon.  Every  part  of  the  management  was  the  same 
every  day,  excepting  that  when  there  was  grass,  pasture 
was  used  instead  of  the  hay,  and  the  meal  was  given  dry 
with  a  little  fine  grass  r 

PRODUCT  OF  BUTTER,   FIRST   CALVING. 

Feed.  1880.    Lbs.  butter.  Av.  per  day. 

2  lbs.  bran j  February 33  ^^  1.25  lbs. 

8  lbs.  corn  meal . (  March SS'/a  1.45 

6  lbs.  bran  and  midlings S  April 28'/2  .95 

)May .26  .84 

2  lbs.  bran (June 2&^  ^  1.39 

3  lbs.  palm  nut  meal ]  July  . . . : 36 Va  1.18 

2  lbs.  bran. (August 38v'2  1.22 

2  lbs.  corn  meal A  September  . .  .44  1.45 

2  lbs.  cotton-seed  meal (  October 393/4  1-28 

SECOND   CALVING. 

1881. 

2  lbs.  bran (  April,  15  day 8.23 1/4       1.53 

2  lbs.  malt  sprouts \  May 52  1.70 

^  lbs.  cotton-seed  meal (  June 49'/4       1.60 

4  lbs.  corn  meal i  July,  12  days  .22  1.83 

2  lbs.  cotton-seed  meal .-.  •<  5  days  sick  with  garget. 

\  July,  14  days  .ll'/^  .80 

2  lbs.  bran  and  3  lbs.  oats  and  S  August 45  1.45 

com  meal -  I  Sep1;ember  . .  .37  1.20 

2  lbs.  bran  and  3  lbs.  fine  bolted  (  October .  .51  Va  1.66 

yellow  corn  meal -.-<  Novem.ber 46  1.54 

(December 471/2  1.55 

1882. 

2  lbs.  bran -  f  January 49V4  1.59 

2  lbs.  fine  meal ..-  !  February 48  1.81 

1  lb.  cotton-seed  meal ]  March 34  1.01 

[April, 2 days-.  3V4-  1.62 


152  THE   DAIKYilAX'S  MANUAL. 

PEODUCT  OF  BUTTER — Continued, 

THIRD   CALVING 

r  May,  16  days.. 32  2.00 

a         .     ,  !  June- 51  .66 

Same  feed j  j^j 53^^       173 

[August 61  2.00 

f  September  ...483/4  1-60 

2  lbs.  bran  and  3  lbs.   yellow  J  October. 401,4  1.30 

meal...- 1  November 42  1.40 

[.December  ....40  1.30 
1883. 

5  lbs.  buckwheat  bran |  '^^^^Zi.-.wfz  f^ 

r  March 23  .76 

2  lbs.  bran  and  3  lbs.  fine  yellow  J  April 381/4  1.23 

com  meal 1  May .41  1.33 

[June- .34  1.01    ■ 

The  same  feeding  was  continued  until  December  6tli, 
when  the  cow  was  dried  off,  giving  in  the  twenty  months 
from  her  last  coming-in,  675y2  pounds  of  butter. 

A  few  points  in  the  above  should  be  specially  noticed. 
Every  time  cotton-seed  meal  was  used  the  butter  in- 
creased in  quantity,  but  Avhat  was  gained  in  this  way 
was  nearly  all  lost  by  the  attack  of  garget,  brought  on  by 
this  feed.  This  result  has  been  so  frequent  with  other 
cows  that  the  use  of  cotton-seed  meal  has  been  abandoned, 
excepting  in  quantities  of  not  over  one  pound  at  one 
feed,  and  never  without  bran  in  the  mixture.  The 
great  falling  off  when  buckwheat  bran  was  used  is  also 
worth  noting.  The  mixture  of  two  pounds  bran  and 
three  pounds  of  fine  yellow  corn  meal,  bolted,  in  every 
case  turned  out  the  best  and  cheapest  feed,  and  made 
the  finest  quality  of  butter.  It  has  since  then  been  a 
standard  feed,  and  there  is  no  desire  to  change  it.  The 
bran  used  is  the  fine  bran  made  at  the  country  mill,  and 
has  some  coarse  middlings  with  it,  and  weighs  eighty 
pounds  to  the  two-bushel  sack. 

The  forcing  of  cows  to  a  large  yield  by  excessive  feed- 
ing is  a  very  unprofitable  business.  Garget  is  almost 
sure  to  come  on,  and  this  not  only  loses  milk  and  butter, 
"out  it  wastes  time  and  gives  a  great  deal  of  trouble  and 


FEEDING   RATIOKS.  '  153 

care.  The  standard  feed  mentioned  above,  viz.,  two 
pounds  of  wheat  bran  and  three  pounds  of  fine  yellow 
meal,  twice  a  day,  with  fifteen  pounds  of  hay,  is  quite 
suliicient  for  an  ordinary  cow,  and  as  much  as  any  such 
cow  can  digest  healthfully  and  profitably.  There  are 
"'phenomenal"  cows,  as  there  are  other  animals,  whose 
digestive  power  and  appetite  seem  to  be  unlimited.  Any 
good  cow  ought  to  pay  well  for  such  feeding,  and  it  is 
not  giving  any  cow  a  chance  to  show  what  she  can  -do  if 
she  is  not  furnished  with  at  least  this  supply  of  food 
regularly. 

We  will  now  test  the  above  practical  experience  by  a 
comparison  with  the  standard  of  feeding  given  by  scien- 
tific investigations.  It  has  been  stated  that  a  cow  in 
full  milk  should  be  supplied  with  a  certain  quantity  of 
digestible  food  elements,  viz.,  "V / ^  pounds  of  nitrogenous 
matter  or  albuminoids,  V^>.^ / ^  pounds  of  carbonaceous  mat- 
ter or  carbo-hydrates,  and  four-tenths  (0.40)  of  a  pound 
of  fat.  These  quantities  are  theoretical,  but  have  been 
proved  by  thousands  of  tests 'to  be  practically  justified. 
Now  the  ration  fixed  upon  in  our  dairy  contains  the 
following  nutritive  elements: 

Albuminoids,  Oarbo-Hydrates.  Fat. 

15  lbs.  of  clover  hay. 1.60  5.64  0.31 

41bs.ofbraTi .40  1.94  0.12 

6  lbs.  of  corn  meal .50  3.60  0.28 

2.50  11.18  0.71 

theoretical  ration 2.50  12.50  0.40 

Difference -1.32  +0.31 

There  is  seen  to  be  a  deficiency  of  1.32  pounds  of 
carbo-hydrates  and  a  surplus  of  0.31  of  a  pound  of 
fat.  This  excess  of  fat  will  very  nearly  make  up  the 
deficiency  of  carbo-hydrates.  But  the  actual  value  of 
the  foods  above  given,  on  account  of  the  extra  quality — 
the  very  best  of  each  being  used — would  raise  the  total 
feeding  value  to  3.12  pounds    of    albuminoids,   13.98 


154  TflE  dairyman's  MAKlTAL. 

pounds  of  carbo-hydrates,  and  0.89  of  a  pound  of  fat; 
making  an  ample  supply  of  materials  for  tlie  quantity  of 
butter  produced.  In  calculating  these  rations  it  is  only 
necessary  to  multiply  the  figures  given  in  the  table  of 
analyses  by  the  weight  of  food  given,  and  divide  deci- 
mally by  100,  by  placing  00  before  the  sum.  Thus  the 
nutritive  elements  in  fifteen  pounds  of  the  best  clover  hay 
is  calculated  as  follows:  10.7  x  15=160-^100  =  1.60; 
showing  the  quantity  of  albuminoids  contained  in  this 
quantity  of  hay.  In  this  manner  the  reader  may  easily 
make  up  a  table  of  rations  of  whatever  feed  he  may  find 
convenient  to  use,  or  calculate  the  feeding  value  of  what 
he  may  be  using. 

Concentrated  foods  are  useful,  but  at  the  same  time 
require  extreme  caution  in  their  use.  It  is  a  physical 
necessity  of  animals  that  some  indigestible  fiber  shall  be 
consumed  with  the  nutritious  part  of  the  food,  and  that 
concentrated  aliment,  wholly  soluble  and  digestible,  can- 
not support  ,life  healthfully.  Animal  life  is,  to  a  large 
extent,  analogous  with  vegetable  life,  and  as  we  cannot 
feed  a  plant  with  carbon,  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  potash, 
and  other  of  its  elementary  constituents,  in  solutions  in 
water,  but  must  supply  our  crops  with  the  raw  materials 
from  which  the  plants  can  select  and  procure  for  them- 
selves what  they  require,  and  analyze  and  reconstruct 
these  elements  in  their  own  way,  so  animals  require  to 
be  fed,  not  u23on  the  ultimate  elements  of  which  they  are 
formed,  but  upon  certain  substances  containing  these  in 
various  combinations  from  which  the  alimentary  organs 
can  select  what  are  wanted  and  with  these  build  up  the 
new  tissue  with  which  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  system 
are  repaired. 

We  feed,  for  instance,  some  substances  containing 
albumen,  gluten,  sugar,  starch  and  oil,  and  these,  being 
digested  and  absorbed  by  the  alimentary  organs,  are 
changed  into  the  fibrin  and  albumen  of  the  flesh  and  the 


5Ff:fiDt2^G  KAtlOKS.  155 

fat  of  the  tissues,  a  large  portion  of  the  last  three  and 
perhaps  some  of  the  first  two  being  changed  into  car- 
bonic acid  by  the  combustion  of  the  carbon,  or,  to  speak 
more  strictly,  by  the  union  of  their  carbon  with  oxygen 
inhaled  by  the  lungs,  and  affording  by  this  consumption 
of  carbon  the  heat  necessary  for  the  performance  of  the 
vital  functions  of  the  animals.  It  is  believed  that  the 
oil  is  directly  absorbed  into  the  blood  and  changed  into 
the  fat  which  is  deposited  in  the  tissues,  or  is  gathered  in 
masses  in  various  parts  of  the  body,  or  is  secreted  in  the 
milk  and  forms  butter.  But  by  some  mysterious  process 
this  fat  is  wholly  changed  in  appearance,  flavor  and  char- 
acter in  its  passage  through  the  animal,  and  although 
the  various  oils  and  fats  of  the  food  affect  to  some  small 
extent  the  taste  and  color  of  these  animal  fats,  yet  on  the 
whole  there  is  little  or  no  chemical  difference  between 
them,  and  they  all  partake  very  much  of  the  same  gen- 
eral character.  It  is  true  that  an  expert  can  detect,  for 
instance,  the  flavor  of  the  oil  of  cotton-seed  or  of  linseed 
meal  in  the  butter  made  from  them  when  used  as  food  for 
the  cows,  and  also  the  difference  in  the  fat  of  pigs  made 
by  feeding  peas,  corn,  acorns,  chestnuts,  and  beech  nuts; 
also  the  flavor  and  color  of  the  fat  of  oxen  are  affected 
by  the  various  fatty  foods  used;  but  so  far  as  we  know 
the  differences  are  only  apparent  to  the  taste  and  cannot 
be  detected  by  chemical  analysis. 

Nevertheless  the  alchemy  of  the  palate  being  more 
sensitive  than  that  of  the  chemist's  laboratory,  it  behooves 
the  feeder  of  meat  and  the  maker  of  butter — and  cheese, 
too,  beyond  a  doubt — to  make  use  of  concentrated  foods 
with  care  and  judgment,  because  of  their  effect  upon  the 
character  of  the  products  as  well  as^  upon  the  health  of 
his  animals.  This  latter,  however,  affects  the  dairyman 
more  than  the  feeder  of  meat,  for  as  fattening  is  a 
morbid  process  it  is  only  necessary  to  stop  at  a  certain 
stage  at  the  obesity  of  an  animal  to  save  it  from  death 


156  THE  DAIRYMAN^S  MAKUAL. 

by  disease,  and  substituting  the  butcher's  knife  for  it; 
but  the  dairyman  cannot  sacrilice  his  cows,  except  per- 
haps an  occasional  victim  to  serve  as  a  medium  for  a  test 
of  ability  to  consume  food  and  change  it  to  butter  in 
excessive  quantities.  He  must  therefore  watch,  not  only 
the  results,  both  ways,  of  feeding  such  rich  substances  as 
oil  meals,  and  as  a  safeguard  he  must  know  the  character 
of  what  he  is  feeding.  These  remarks  refer  chiefly  to 
cottonseed  meal,  which,  from  several  writers'  experience, 
we  have  found  to  be  well  worth  the  closest  scrutiny  and 
most  careful  use  in  respect  to  its  effect  upon  tlie  animal's 
system.  Its  effect  upon  the  butter  is  excellent,  giving 
good  texture,  fine  color,  sweet,  nutty  flavor,  much  like 
its  own,  and  great  firmness,  so  much  so  as  to  render  it 
difficult  to  work  up  in  the  winter  at  less  than  seventy 
degrees  of  temperature  and  to  give  it  a  desirable  hard- 
ness in  the  summer.  Two  pounds  per  day,  however,  we 
believe  is  the  extreme  quantity  that  is  safe  to  give  a  cow 
whose  proclivity  for  converting  rich  food  into  butter 
makes  her  subject  to  attacks  of  garget  by  over-pressure 
in  this  direction.  As  regards  the  effect  of  cotton-seed 
meal  upon  the  circulatory  system  of  an  animal  it  is  only 
necessary  to  refer  to  its  composition.  A.  recent  analysis 
of  the  oil  meal  of  the  crop  of  1886 — a  very  favorable  year 
^  for  quality — gives  its  composition  as  follows  : 

Water -.--  6.90 

Oil 15.13 

Albuminous  compounds 42.40  (nitro2:en,  6.77) 

Gum,  sugar,  and  digestible  fiber 26.96  (carbo-hydrates) 

Indigestible  fiber 2.53 

Ash 6.08 

Total - 100.00 

As  the  ash  consists  mostly  of  potash  and  phosphoric 
acid,  which  are  useful  alimentary  substances,  it  appears 
that  there  is  only  two  and  one-luilf  per  cent  of  this  food 
that  is  indigestible.     Hence  it  is  almost  as  highly  con- 


FEEDII^G    RATIONS.  157 

centrated  a  food  as  sugar  or  butter,  and  therefore  equally 
injurious  and  disturbing  to  the  system  as  these,  when 
fed  in  excess.  But  as  forty-two  and  one-half  per  cent 
of  this  meal  consists  of  nitrogenous  substances,  and  six 
and  three-fourths  per  cent  of  nitrogen,  an  excess  of  it 
is  even  more  disastrous  to  the  animal  than  an  excess 
of  carbonaceous  food,  because  of  its  serious  effect  upon 
the  blood  and  also  upon  the  kidneys,  through  which  the 
excess  of  nitrogen  must  escape.  Hence  the  use  of  this 
food  especially,  and  all  other  concentrated  foods  gener- 
ally, requires  care  and  caution  to  avoid  any  excess  beyond 
the  quantity  that  the  animal  can  dispose  of  safely. 

The  healthful  proportion  of  the  protein  (albuminoids) 
to  the  carbo-hydrates  of  the  food,  for  the  maintenance  of 
an  animal  in  good  health  and  thrift,  is  one  of  the  former 
to  five  and  one-half  of  the  latter,  or,  as  the  figures  are 
put,  1 :5.5.  Of  these  foods  mentioned  wheat  bran  is  seen 
to  be  the  nearest  to  this  ratio.  Fat  is  always  taken  as 
two  and  one-half  times  as  mucli  as  the  other  carbo- 
hydrates, hence  the  richer  a  food  is  in  fat  the  more  the 
relative  value  of  the  carbo-hydrates  is,  and  the  ratio  is 
made  out  accordingly.  As  wheat  bran  contains  three 
and  one-half  per  cent  of  oil  or  fat,  the  carbo-hydrates  are 
increased  by  8.75  instead  of  3.50,  and  the  ratio  is  thus 
12.9  to  nearly  68,  or  1:5.3  nearly.  This  is  a  close  approx- 
imation to  the  normal  ratio,  hence  wheat  bran  should 
be,  and  is,  practically,  the  best  basis  for  a  food  for  cows 
and  other  animals  kept  for  milk  or  flesh.  Then  we  have 
to  consider  what  is  wanted  after  the  animal  itself  is 
supplied  with  every  healthful  requisite  for  its  main- 
tenance. Clearly,  if  one  desires  butter,  he  should  feed 
some  substances  rich  in  fat  ;  if  milk,  those  which  are 
rich  in  protein,  to  supply  the  nitrogenous  matter  of  the 
caseine,  and  others  rich  in  cfirbon,  to  supply  the  sugar 
and  the  fat.  Malt  sprouts  and  cotton-seed  meal  are 
typical  foods  of  these  kinds,  and  in  our  dairy  practice 


158  THE 

have  been  found  most  excellent  when  given  in  such 
moderation  as  their  richness  in  nitrogen  demands  of  the 
feeder. 

A  few  words  in  e:j^planation  of  this  moderation  may 
be  useful.  Nitrogenous  matter  in  the  food,  if  given  in 
excess,  must  be  expelled  from  the  system,  or  if  retained 
in  the  blood  will  quickly  render  this  vital  fluid  poisonous 
and  cause  serious  disorder.  The  waste  nitrogen  of  the 
food  in  the  vital  functions  is  discharged  chiefly  through 
the  kidneys,  and  these  organs  are  exceedingly  delicate 
and  easily  disturbed.  Hence,  food  rich  in  nitrogen  is 
to  be  given  with  caution,  lest  the  system  may  be  un- 
balanced and  disease  produced.  Cows  suffer  very  quickly 
from  inflammatory  diseases,  as  garget,  milk  fever,  and 
lung  fever,  when  an  excess  of  food  of  either  a  nitroge- 
nous or  carbonaceous  character  is  given ;  but  there  is 
far  more  danger  from  an  excess  of  the  former  than  of 
the  latter.  Young  animals  which  are  growing  and 
making  flesh  may  easily  dispose  of  food  rich  in  nitro- 
gen, while  old  cows  kept  for  butter-making  or  animals 
kept  for  fattening  will  turn  to  good  account  an  excess 
of  food  that  is  rich  in  sugar,  starch,  and  fat.  It 
is  to  be  taken  as  a  rule  in  feeding  that  no  food  should 
be  given  when  in  a  state  of  fermentation.  The  use  of 
such  food  is  not  only  unwholesome,  but  dangerovis.  The 
warmth  of  the  stomach  very  quickly  accelerates  the  pro- 
cess of  fermentation,  and  produces  a  rapid  change  to 
acid.  A  small  quantity  of  lactic  acid — which  is  formed 
in  brewers'  grains,  green  clover  and  other  rich  fodder, 
by  moderate  fermentation — is  not  injurious,  but  assists 
digestion,  hence  fresh  brewers'  grains  are  a  most  ex- 
cellent food  for  the  production  of  milk  of  the  best 
quality;  but  if  the  grains  are  used  in  an  advanced 
state  of  acidity,  acetic  acid  is  formed,  which  is  an  acrid 
poisonous  substance  and  necessarily  injurious  when  in 
excess,     It  should  go  without  saying  to  any  intelligent 


FEEDING   RATIONS.  159 

man  that  this  food  is  utterly  unfit  for  cows  producing 
milk  when  it  is  decomposing  and  offensively  putrid, 
although  it  is  so  used  sometimes  in  districts  where  milk 
for  market  is  the  chief  product.  As  brewers'  grains  are 
seen  to  be  too  rich  in  protein  they  are  best  used  with 
twice  their  dry  weight  of  cornmeal.  When  fed  in  this 
manner,  as  is  common  in  some  of  the  largest  and  best  of 
the  milk  dairies  of  AYestchester  and  other  adjacent  coun- 
ties in  New  York,  the  milk  is  unsurpassed  in  quality. 

Mixing  the  food  is  a  matter  of  economy  in  two  ways; 
viz.,  to  secure  complete  consumption  and  the  desired 
results  of  it,  and  so  both  get  all  its  possible  products  and 
avoid  waste.  In  our  practice,  every  kind  of  fodder  is  cut 
up  finely  in  the  winter  feeding,  and  in  the  summer,  when 
soiling  is  practiced,  the  coarser  kind  of  the  green  fodder 
is  cut  up  in  the  same  way.  The  cut  fodder  is  wetted 
sufficiently  to  make  the  finely  ground  meal  adhere  to  it, 
and  the  usual  ration  of  salt  (one  ounce  per  head)  is  added 
and  the  whole  evenly  mixed  and  given  to  the  cows. 

During  all  our  experience  in  the  dairy  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  day  as  a  rest  for  man  and  beast  has  been 
strictly  kept  up,  and  as  some  dairymen  think  that  the 
work  cannot  be  suspended,  even  in  part,  on  this  rest 
day,  the  method  practiced  for  several  years  is  here  de- 
scribed. In  the  summer,  field  Avork  is  left  at  4  p.  m.  on 
Saturday,  and  preparations  are  made  for  the  next  day's 
feeding^  The  fodder  is  cut  and  brought  in  from  the 
field  to  the  barn  for  all  day  Sunday  and  for  Monday 
morning,  and  a  supply  is  also  cut  and  put  under  hay  caps 
for  a  reserve  in  case  of  bad  weather  on  Monday.  The 
feed  for  Sunday  morning  is  wetted  and  mixed  and  left 
in  the  feed  box,  and  that  for  the  noon  and  evening  is  cut 
and  put  in  a  heap  on  the  floor  near  the  box.  Everything 
that  can  be  done  is  made  ready  for  the  next  day,  and  by 
seven  in  the  evening  the  milking  is  all  finished  and  every- 
thing prepared  for  immediate  use  the  next  morning.    Au 


160  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

extra  supply  of  pails  and  pans  are  kept  for  use  on  Sun- 
day, and  no  pan  Vashing  is  needed.  The  pails  and 
pans  used  are  well  rinsed  and  filled  with  cold  water  and 
left  in  the  outer  room  of  the  dairy  until  Monday.  An 
hour's  extra  work  on  that  day  makes  all  things  even. 
The  cows  are  kept  in  the  yard  and  not  turned  out,  and 
an  extra  large  mess  of  fodder  is  given  at  noon  as  a  com- 
pensation. The  cows  seem  to  enjoy  the  change,  and  lie 
around  in  the  shade  and  act  in  every  way  with  the  gen- 
eral quietness  and  stillness  one  so  often  observes  on  a 
Sunday  in  the  country.  The  milking  is  an  hour  later 
on  Sunday  morning,  and  this  slight  irregularity  is  the 
only  thing  which  has  any  appreciable  effect,  for,  as  a 
rule,  the  milk  falls  oS  to  a  small  extent  on  Monday 
morning. 

Cutting  the  fodder  has  the  effect  of  reducing  the 
muscular  work  of  the  cow.  Every  movement  of  the 
cow's  muscles,  every  motion  of  the  lungs  as  the  animal 
breathes,  consumes  some  of  the  muscular  tissue  and 
requires  some  food  to  repair  the  waste.  Every  digestive 
function  is  also  carried  on  at  some  coijt  of  substance  for 
the  repair  of  which  food  is  required.  The  proper  prepa- 
ration of  the  food,  then,  is  a  saving  of  labor  for  the  cow, 
and  a  saving  of  food  for  the  owner.  The  grain  food 
thus  should  be  ground  as  finely  as  possible,  and  being 
mixed  with  the  cut  and  moistened  fodder  is  eaten  with 
less  exertion,  and  is  digested  with  the  greatest  ease. 
It  is  also  more  thoroughly  digested  because  of  its 
fine  condition,  subjecting  it  more  completely  to  the 
action  of  the  solvent  fluids  of  the  mouth  (the  saliva), 
stomach  and  intestines.  As  the  fat  and  oil  of  the  food 
exist  in  exceedingly  fine  particles  distributed  in  the  cellu- 
lar tissue,  the  thorough  grinding  and  the  perfect  masti- 
cation of  it  tend  to  its  most  economical  disposition  in 
the  body  of  the  animal. 

A  valuable  experience  in  feeding  is  given  by  Professor 


rEEDFNG    11A.TI0NS.  101 

Muncy  of  the  Iowa  Agricultural  College  in  tlie  following 
jiaragraph : 

"The  question  often  asked  me  is,  ^How  do  you  mix 
your  feed?'  Suppose  it  is  desired  to  feed  corn,  oats,  and 
bran.  According  to  the  best  authority  we  have,  the 
nutritive  ratio  should  be  1  to  5.4.  By  nutritive  ratio  is 
meant  that  the  digestive  albuminoids  should  be  mixed 
with  the  starch,  sugar,  and  fat  of  the  food  in  the  pro- 
portion of  1  of  the  former  to  5.4  of  the  latter.  Sup- 
pose now  I  take  the  average  analyses  of  corn,  oats  and 
bran,  and  determine  how  much  digestible  ingredients 
are  contained  in  two  bushels  oats,  one  bushel  corn,  and 
fifty  pounds  bran.     It  is  as  follows  : 

DigeshUe. 

Protein.  Carbo-Hydrates.  Fat. 

Pounds.            Pounds.  Pounds. 

64  pounds  oats. 6.22                  31.04  2.49 

56  pounds  corn 5.10                  37.56  2.33 

50  pounds  bran 6.01                  22.01  1.52 

Kutritive  ratio  of  above  is  1  to  6.1,  which  shows  that  I 
should  add  more  flesh-forming  food.  To  be  brief:  If 
you  mix  sixty-four  pounds  oats,  twenty  pounds  corn, 
and  fifty  pounds  bran  you  will  have  a  nutritive  ratio  of 
1  to  5.6,  which  is  approximately  the  one  recommended  ; 
112  pounds  corn,  100  of  shorts,  and  fifty  of  bran  gives  a 
nutritive  ratio  of  1  to  5.4,  and  with  corn  at  twenty-five 
cents^  shorts  at  twelve  dollars,  bran  nine  dollars,  and 
oats  twenty-two  cents,  is  cheaper  ration  for  me  than 
corn,  oats,  and  bran;  the  difference  is  about  five  cents 
per  100  pounds;  100  pounds  of  oats,  twenty-five  of  wheat, 
and  fifty  of  bran  will  do  as  well  for  cows  as  any  given 
at  a  cost  to  me  of  seven  cents  per  hundred  more.  Bran 
itself  is  not  the  best  feed  for  cows.  It  should  be  mixed 
with  some  feed  richer  in  starch,  sugar  and  fat,  if  j^ou 
desire  to  feed  economically  and  for  profit.  Feeding  bran 
increases  the  per  cent  of  cream.     By  feeding  ten  pounds 


162  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

of  bran  per  day  two  cows  at  the  Texas  Agricultural  Col- 
lege increased  three  and  four  and  a  half  per  cent,  re- 
spectively, in  a  twenty  days'  trial.  At  first  they  re- 
ceived bran  and  ran  on  good  pasture.  Next  they  were 
made  to  depend  on  grass  exclusively.  The  Iowa  dairy- 
man should  remember  that  the  manure  from  a  well-fed  cow 
is  worth  probably  twice  as  much  as  the  manure  from  a 
grass-fed  cow." 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  results  of  feeding 
vary  with  circumstances.  The  character  and  quality 
of  the  herbage  vary ;  and  necessarily,  as  grass  is  the  basis 
of  a  cow's  feed,  any  variation  in  this  will  affect  the  re- 
sults of  the  grain  feeding  and  make  some  modification 
necessary.  Iowa  is  a  leading  dairy  State,  and  this  experi- 
ence of  Professor  Muncy,  a  most  capable  and  enthusi- 
astic dairy  expert,  will  be  valuable  for  Western  dairymen. 

To  observe  the  effect  of  feeding,  some  tests  will  be 
found  useful.  A  dairyman  should  be  very  inquisitive 
and  observant,  for  his  profit  depends  uj^on  it.  He  should 
count,  measure  and  weigh  everything ;  and  the  quantity 
of  food  given,  its  cost  and  its  results,  should  all  be  care- 
fully noted.  The  manner  of  testing  cows  described  in 
the  previous  chapter  has  been  constantly  practiced  in  the 
author's  dairy,  and  has  been  found  of  the  greatest  use. 

In  practice  in  the  dairy  there  are  times  when  it  is 
impossible  to  feed  hay  and  other  rich  foods,  on  account 
of  scarcity  in  adverse  seasons.  Farmers  have  a  large 
quantity  of  rough  material  to  dispose  of.  Corn  fodder, 
straw,  coarse  hay,  and  even  marsh  hay  at  times,  are  the 
sole  dependence  for  feeding.  In  such  cases  these  inferior 
fodders  may  be  made  up  by  the  addition  of  the  richer 
foods  which  can  l)e  purchased  and  used  at  such  a  profit 
as  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  dairyman.  And  in  feeding 
these  coarser  fodders,  the  use  of  roots  with  them  will  be 
found  exceedingly  valuable.  The  succulent  roots,  being 
almost  wholly  digestible,  aid  very  much  in  the  digestion 


-    FEEDTN'G    RATIOI^S.  163 

of  the  coarser  fodder,  and  for  winter  feeding  a  supply  of 
mangels  or  sugar  beets  will  be  indispensable  for  the  most 
profit.  In  a  similar  way  the  use  of  malt  sprouts  steeped 
in  water — which  makes  a  sweet  semi-liquid  pulp  of  an 
agreeable  odor  and  taste — mixed  with  cut  straw  and  corn 
fodder,  has  been  found  to  keep  up  the  yield  of  milk,  and, 
with  a  slight  increase  in  the  mixed  meal  or  ground  gram 
food,  to  prevent  any  deficiency  in  the  yield  of  butter. 
Well-cured  corn  fodder,  or  the  stalks  of  the  corn  crop, 
cut  before  frost,  or  as  soon  as  the  grain  has  been  glazed, 
and  stacked  so  as  to  preserve  the  greenness  and  sweetness 
of  the  leaves,  has  yielded,  with  the  addition  of  a  peck  of 
sliced  roots,  as  much  and  as  good  butter  as  that  made 
from  the  best  clover  hay. 

The  effect  of  certain  foods  rich  in  nitrogenous  ele- 
ments, which  has  been  referred  to,  renders  such  foods 
injurious  at  times  to  cows  soon  to  calve.  The  author's 
practice  has  been  to  wholly  suspend  feeding  grain  food 
of  any  kind  to  cows  as  soon  as  the  milking  ceases,  and 
to  feed  only  roots  with  hay  or  corn  fodder  or  straw,  or 
a  mixture  of  all,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  the  winter,  and 
only  grass  or  green  fodder  in  the  summer.  Grain  food, 
too,  should  not  be  given  until  the  milk  has  acquired  its 
iiormal  character,  the  fourth  day  after  calving,  and  is 
then  given  only  in  small  rations  at  first  and  increased 
gradually  during  a  week  or  ten  days,  until  the  full  milk 
yield  is  reached.  Feeding  for  manure  as  well  as  milk 
yield  is  a  subject  of  much  interest  in  the  dairy.  Large 
crops  enable  the  dairyman  to  keep  a  large  herd,  and  large 
crops  are  grown  only  upon  rich  land.  A  large  herd 
makes  a  large  quantity  of  manure,  and  it  will  pay  a 
dairyman  to  expend  money,  borrowed  even  for  the  pur- 
pose, in  the  purchase  of  cows  and  their  food,  that  he 
may  produce  manure  to  improve  his  land,  repaying  the 
cost  of  the  food  through  the  milk  and  butter  made. 

Having  practically  experienced  this  fact,  during  a  few 


164  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

years  upon  a  yery  poor  farm,  the  former  owners  of  which 
had  starved  and  had  been  sold  out  by  the  sheriff,  we  here 
relate  the  methods  by  which  a  bed  of  mere  shifting  sand 
was  brought  into  a  condition  of  fertility,  the  soil  changed 
to  a  dark  loam  and  made  capable  of  j^i'oducing  100 
bushels  of  corn  and  1,200  bushels  of  mangels  per  acre,  a 
with  a  slight  surplus  of  profit  the  first  year,  and  a  very 
satisfactory  balance  after,  which  kept  increasing  up  to 
the  end  of  the  eighth  year,  when  the  farm  was  disposed 
of  at  twice  its  cost.  The  farm  consisted  of  seventy 
acres,  of  which  nearly  one-half  was  unreclaimed  swamp 
meadow,  too  wet  and  springy  to  be  safely  pastured  by 
cows,  but  which  afforded  a  large  quantity  of  coarse  hay 
and  a  small  amount  of  better  grass  along  the  borders  of 
the  low  ground.  There  was  a  piece  of  open  beech  wood 
which  afforded  a  little  pasture,  and  an  old  mossy  upland 
meadow  which  gave  about  300  pounds  of  hay  to  the  acre 
from  a  few  grass  spots.  The  rest  of  the  land  had  been 
cultivated  in  rye  and  corn,  until  the  crops  had  quite  run 
out  and  the  whole  product  could  be  drawn  off  in  a  one- 
horse  wagon.  Consistently  with  this  condition  of  things 
there  was  a  stable  and  barn  in  one,  about  sixteen  by 
eighteen  feet,  which  was  empty  and  not  one  ounce  of 
manure  about  the  premises.  The  one  poor  horse  and 
cow  were  running  in  the  swamp  or  on  the  roadsides  to 
pick  up  a  starvation  living.  Possibly  there  never  was  a 
much  more  unpromising  case,  nor  one  which  offered  a 
better  opportunity  for  making  an  experimental  farm, 
and  testing  the  question  whether  a  poor  farm  could  be 
restored  to  fertility  by  a  judicious  course  of  improve- 
ment out  of  its  own  product  and  without  an  extrava- 
gant outlay  of  money. 

The  first  thing  done  was  to  purchase  fifteen  cows  in 
October,  and  sufficient  hay  and  grain  to  winter  them. 
The  cows  were  Ayrshires  and  Jerseys,  and  some  cross- 
bred ones  of  these  kinds.     A  commodious   stable  was 


FEEDING    RATIONS.  165 

built,  with  a  capacious  manure  cellar  under,  it.  A  de- 
scription of  the  stable  has  been  giyen  in  a  previous 
chapter.  The  swamp  was  drained  and  a  large  quantity 
of  the  best'  of  muck  was  dug  out  and  drawn  into  the 
manure  cellar  and  the  barnyard,  and  also  stored  as  litter 
for  the  cows  and  absorbents  to  take  up  the  liquids  in  the 
manure  gutter.  Everything  went  into  the  cellar,  and  by 
spring  300  loads  of  the  very  best  manure  was  put  on 
fifteen  acres  of  the  land.  About  as  many  acres  of  fall 
rye  were  sown  and  manured  with  300  pounds  per  acre  of 
the  artificial  complete  manure.  At  first  milk  was  sold 
on  a  neighboring  route  at  eight  cents  per  quart,  which 
paid  a  good  profit ;  but  the  difficulty  of  finding  a  man 
who  could  withstand  the  temptation  of  handling  another 
person's  money  caused  this  business  to  be  abandoned, 
and  butter-making  was  substituted.  There  was  another 
reason.  Milk  contains  many  valuable  elements  of  plant 
food.  Ten  cans  of  forty  quarts  (1,000  pounds)  of  milk 
carried  off  from  the  land  three  and  a  half  pounds  of 
phosphate  of  lime,  one-half  pound  of  phosphate  of  mag- 
nesia, and  some  other  combined  phosphoric  acid  and 
other  mineral  matter  equivalent  in  all  to  about  six  and  a 
half  pounds,  and  an  equal  quantity  of  nitrogen.  Every 
month,  then,  there  is  lost  to  the  laud  from  fifteen  fair 
average  cows  about  seventy-five  pounds  each  of  nitrogen 
and  as  much  essential  mineral  plant  food,  and  in  a  year 
about  900  pounds  of  each.  To  replace  this  would  cost 
about  $250.  In  making  and  selling  butter,  nothing  but 
carbon  and  water  are  carried  off,  and  these  cost  very 
little  to  replace,  and  the  loss  of  carbon  is  so  small  that  it 
can  be  safely  ignored,  although  it  may  be  taken  from  the 
soil.  This  saving  of, all  the  valuable  elements  of  the 
milk  is  sufficient  to  throw  the  balance  in  favor  of  butter- 
making  when  the  improvement  of  the  land  is  a  consider- 
able object. 

In  the  spring  the  manured  land  was  planted  with  sweet 


166  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

corn  for  fodder,  and  the  rye  was  cut  green  and  fed  to  the 
cows.  The  rye  stubhle  was  partly  sown  with  clover  and 
orchard  grass  and  clover  mixed,  and  partly  plowed  and 
planted  with  mangels,  peas,  oats  and  corn.  The  drained 
swamp  was  grubbed,  thoroughly  harrowed  up,  and  sown 
with  various  grasses,  viz.,  timothy,  fowl  meadow'  grass,  red 
top  and  meadow  fescue,  all  of  which  are  adapted  to  moist 
peaty  land.  The  next  year  this  meadow  afforded  a  large 
quantity  of  the  best  hay  and  constantly  improved  each 
year  afterward. 

These  methods  of  management  were  continued  with  a 
gradual  improvement  of  the  land,  which  in  time  changed 
from  a  loose  sand,  which  filled  the  eyes  and  ears  when  a 
strong  wind  blew  across  the  bare  stubble  in  winter,  to  a 
dark -brown  loam  which  produced  profitable  market  crops, 
as  early  potatoes,  sweet  corn,  peas,  cabbages,  melons,  etc., 
all  of  which  sold  well  and  left  more  or  less  fodder  for  the 
cows.  Xo  corn  (grain)  was  grown  after  the  second  3'ear, 
as  other  crops  were  found  more  profitable.  A  constant 
succession  of  crops  occupied  the  land.  As  soon  as  a 
strip  of  rye  was  cut  off  in  the  spring  the  ground  was 
manured,  plowed,  and  planted  with  corn,  and  this  corn 
was  at  once  followed  by  a  second  planting  or  with  millet. 
The  clover  was  fed  after  the  rye,  and  with  the  orchard 
grass  and  the  grass  from  the  meadow  gave  abundance  of 
green  food  until  the  sweet  corn  fodder  was  ready,  after 
which  there  was  a  large  surplus  to  be  cured  for  winter 
feeding.  The  clover  was  cut  a  second  time,  and  made  a 
heavy  crop  of  hay  with  a  top  dressing  of  the  fine  manure 
made  from  the  swamp  muck  used  in  tlie  stables,  yards, 
and  pens. 

After  seven  years  of  this  method  of  work  the  farm  be- 
came highly  profitable  and  not  only  repaid  tlie  whole  cost 
of  tlie  improvements  and  stock,  but  left  a  considerable 
profit.  The  butter  made  brought  an  average  of  sixty-five 
cents  a  pound  from  private  families,  and  the  market  crops 


FEEDING    RATIOKS.  16'? 

helped  considerably  in  increasing  the  income  as  well  as 
in  providing  excellent  fodder  for  the  cows  in  the  refuse. 

There  are  many  cases  in  which  farms  which  have  been 
badly  managed  near  towns  and  cities  may  be  purchased 
cheaply,  stocked  with  cows,  and  worked  in  this  way  with 
great  advantage;  for  the  needed  foods  can  be  easily  pro- 
cured. Manure  may  be  purchased  cheaply  and  the 
products  sold  at  the  best  market  prices.  The  purchase 
of  manure,  however,  is  not  best  when  food  can  be  bought 
and  made  into  butter  at  a  profit,  and  the  manure  left. 

The  following  remarks  by  Sir  J.  B.  Lawes,  the  first 
authority  in  the  world  upon  this  subject,  may  be  read 
most  profitably: 

^' The  only  constituents  of  food  which  are  of  impor- 
tance as  ingredients  of  manure  are  the  nitrogenous  sub- 
stances and  the  ash  constituents.  If  the  live  weight  of 
an  animal  remains  unchanged,  and  there  is  no  production 
of  milk,  the  quantity  of  nitrogen  and  ash  constituents 
voided  in  the  manure  will  be  the  same  as  that  contained 
in  the  food  consumed  ;  the  albuminoids  and  ash  con- 
stituents of  the  food  used  for  the  renovation  of  tissue 
being  in  this  case  equivalent  to  the  quantity  yielded  by 
the  degradation  of  tissue.  In  cases  where  the  body 
weight  is  increasing,  or  milk  being  formed,  the  amount 
of  nitrogen  and  ash  constituents  in  the  manure  will 
be  less  than  that  in  the  food,  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
quantity  of  these  converted  into  animal  produce. 

"A  part  of  the  albuminoids  and  ash  constituents  are 
left  undigested  during  the  passage  of  the  food  through 
the  alimentary  canal ;  these  are  voided  in  the  solid  excre- 
ment. The  digested  nitrogenous  matter  and  ash  con- 
stituents pass  into  the  blood;  a  part  of  them  may  be 
converted  into  animal  increase  if  the  animal  is  gaining 
in  weight  or  producing  milk,  and  the  remainder  is 
finally  separated  from  the  blood  by  the  kidneys,  and 
is  voided  in  the  form  of  urine.     The  albuminoids  are 


168 


THE   DAlKYMAN  S   MANUAL. 


oxidized  into  urea  before  being  expelled  from  the  system. 
In  the  cas'e  of  herbivorous  animals  liippuric  acid  is  also 
formed  in  variable  quantities,  and  is  found  as  an  ingre- 
dient of  the  urine. 

"The  proportion  of  the  nitrogen  in  the  food  which  will 
appear  in  the  solid  excrement  is  determined  by  the  di- 
gestion co-efficient  of  the  albuminoids.  Thus,  seventy- 
nine  has  been  given  as  the  digestion  co-efficient  of  the 
albuminoids  of  baiiey-meal  when  consumed  by  a  pig; 
it  follows  that  in  this  case  for  100  of  albuminoids  con- 
sumed twenty-one  will  be  voided  in  the  solid  excrement 
and  seventy-nine  pass  into  the  blood.  It  has  been 
stated  that  500  pounds  of  barley-meal,  containing  about 
fifty-three  pounds  of  albuminoids,  will  in  the  case  of  the 
pig  produce  100  pounds  of  animal  increase,  containing 
7.8  pounds  of  albuminoids.  Its  follows  from  these  data 
that  for  100  pounds  of  albuminoids  consumed  14.7  are 
stored  wp  as  carcase,  twenty-one  appear  in  the  solid  ex- 
crement, and  64.3  as  urea,  etc.,  in  the  urine.  In  the 
same  way,  by  deducting  the  ash  constituents  stored  up 
from  those  present  in  the  food,  we  arrive  at  the  quantity 
of  ash  constituents  voided  in  the  manure.  Calculating 
in  this  manner  the  relation  of  food  to  manure  in  the  case 
of  the  fattening  ox,  milking  cow,  sheep  and  pig,  we 
arrive  at  the  following  conclusions  : 

NITROGEN    STORED   UP  AND  VOIDED  FOR   100  CONSUMED, 


Stored  up 

as 
Increase. 

Voided  as       Voided  as 

Solid              Liquid 
Excrement*   Excrement. 

Tn   Total 
Excrement. 

Oxen - 

3.9 
4.3 

14.7 

22.6  73.5 

16.7  1        79.0 
21.0         !        64.3 

96.1 

Sheep 

95  7 

Pigs - 

85.3 

*  The  quantities  of  nitrogen  given  in  this  column  are  a  little  below 
the  ti-uth,  as  besides  the  undigested  albumiuoids  some  nitrogenous 
biliary  matter  is  present  in  the  solid  excrement.  With  oxen  and  sheep 
the  amount  of  biliary  matter  in  the  excrement  is  very  small,  with  pigs 
it  is  more  considerable.  In  the  case  of  the  pig  the  nitrogen  in  the  solid 
excrement  should  probably  stand  as  25,  and  that  in  the  liquid  as  59.3. 


FEEDING    RATIONS.  160 

ASH  CONSTITUENTS  STOEfiD   UP  AND  VOIDED  FOR  100  CONSUMED. 


Stored  up  as 
Increase. 


Oxen  . 

Sheep - 
Pia-s  -  - 


2.3 
3.8 
4.5 


Voided  in  Total 
Excrements. 


96.2 
95.5 


**  The  proportion  of  the  nitrogen  and  ash  constituents 
of  the  food  which  is  retained  by  a  fattening  animal  is  in 
all  cases  very  small;  in  each  instance  mentioned  above, 
save  one,  more  than  ninety-five  per  cent  of  both  nitrogen 
and  ash  constituents  find  their  way  into  the  manure. 
The  pig  is  seen  to  retain  the  largest  proportion  of  the 
nitrogen  of  the. food  ;  this  is  clearly  owing  to  the  greater 
proportion  of  increase  which  the  pig  produces  from  a 
given  w^eight  of  food. 

**  The  amount  of  nitrogen  voided  in  the  urine  is  seen  to 
be  three  or  four  times  the  quantity  contained  in  the  solid 
excrement.  This  relation  will  vary  greatly  according  to 
the  character  of  the  diet.  If  the  food  is  nitrogenous 
and  easily  digested,  the  nitrogen  in  the  urine  will  greatly 
preponderate;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  food  is  one  imper- 
fectly digested,  the  nitrogen  in  the  solid  excrement  may 
form  the  larger  quantity.  AVhen  ordinary  hay  is  the 
diet,  the  nitrogen  in  the  solid  excrement  will  generally 
somewhat  exceed  that  contained  in  the  urine ;  with  a 
straw  diet  the  excess  in  the  solid  excrement  will  be  still 
greater.  On  the  other  hand,  corn  and  oil  cake,  and 
especially  roots,  yield  a  large  excess  of  nitrogen  in  the 
urine. 

"•  The  ash  constituents  are  very  differently  distributed  in 
the  solid  excrement  and  urine;  in  the  former,  lime,  mag- 
nesia, and  phosphoric  acid  preponderate,  while  the  lat- 
ter contains  nearly  all  the  potash.  With  sheep  fed  on 
hay  about  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  lime  contained 
in  the  food,  seventy  per  cent  of  the  magnesia,  and 
eighty-three  per  cent  of  the  phosphoric  acid  were  found 


iro 


The  DAI kym ax's  manual. 


in  the  solid  excremen-t,  but  only  three  per  cent  of  the 
potash. 

*'Afair  idea  of  the  general  composition  both  of  the 
solid  excrement  and  of  the  urine  is  given  by  the  follow- 
ing table: 

PEKCENTAGE    COMPOSITION  OF  SOLID  AND    LIQUID    EXCREMENT— SHEEP 
FED   ON  HAT. 


Water 

Organic  matter — 

Ast 

Nitrogen 


Solid  Excrement. 


Fresh. 


66.2 

30.3 

3.5 


0.7 


Dry. 


89.6 
10.4 


2.0 


Urine. 


Fresh. 


85.7 
8.7 
5.6 


Dry. 


61.0 
39.0 


1.4 


9.6 


OXEN  WITH  NITROGENOUS 

DIET. 

-- 

Solid  Excretnent. 

Urine. 

Fresh. 

Dry. 

Fresh. 

Dry. 

Water 

Organic  matter 

Ash 

86.3 

12.3 

1.4 

89^7 
10.3 

94.1 
3.7 
2.2 

63.0 
37.0 

Nitrogen 

0.3 

1.9 

1.2 

20.6 

*'The  extreme  richness  of  the  urine,  both  in  ash  con- 
stituents and  nitrogen,  is  very  evident.  In  the  case  of 
highly-fed  oxen  (and  cows)  the  dry  matter  of  the  urine 
is  seen  to  contain  over  twenty  per  cent  of  nitrogen. 
Urine  readily  undergoes  fermentation,  the  urea  being 
transformed  into  carbonate  of  ammonium.  As  this  is  a 
volatile  substance,  a  loss  of  a  part  of  the  nitrogen  voided 
may  easily  occur,  especially  if  an  insufficient  amount  of 
litter  is  employed. 

**  The  relative  value  of  the  manure  produced  by  differ- 
ent foods  is  determined  by  the  relative  richness  of  the 
foods  in  nitrogen  and  ash  constituents,  but  chiefly  by  the 
amount  of  nitrogen,  this  being  the  most  costly  ingredient 
of  purchased  manure.  The  average  amount  of  nitrogen 
and  of  the  two  most  imjDortant  ash  constituents  con- 
tained in  the  ordinary  foods  is  shown  in  the  following 
table: 


E'EEDING   RATIONS. 


171 


MANIJRIAL  CONSTITUENTS 

IN  1,000 

PARTS  OF 

ORDINARY  FOODS. 

Drtj 

Matter. 

Nitrogen. 

Potash. 

Phosphoric 
Acid. 

Cotton  cake  (decorticated)... 
Rape  cake    . 

900 
900 
880 
885 
905 
930 
855 
857 
905 
865 
870 
856 
860 
886 
840 
857 
840 
857 
850 
830 
250 
115 
107 
142 
83 

66.0 

.    48.0 

45.0 

39.0 

36.0 

25.0 

41.0 

36.0 

38.0 

22.0 

20.6 

18.8 

17.0 

16.6 

19.7 

15.5 

10.0 

4.8 

50 

5.0 

3.4 

1.9 

2.4 

1.6 

1.8 

15.7? 

13.2 

14.7 

20.1 

12.3 

5.5 

12.0 

9.8 

19.5 

14.8 

4.5 

5.4 

4.9 

3.6 

19.5 

16.8 

25.9 

5.8 

9.7 

10.4 

5.6 

3.9 

2.0 

3.2 

2.9 

31.2 
24.6 

Linseed  cake 

19.6 

Cotton  cake(undecorticated). 
LinsL'ed-  

22.9 
15.4 

Palm-keniel  meal  ( English). . 
Beans 

12.2 
11.6 

Peas ^ 

8.8 

Malt  dust 

17.2 

Bran 

32.3 

Oats 

6.2 

Wheat  ... 

8.0 

Barley  .  . . . 

7.3 

Maize 

6.1 

Clover  hay. 

5.6 

Meadow  hay 

3.8 

Bean  straw 

4.1 

Wheat  straw 

2.6 

Barley  straw 

2.0 

Oat  straw 

2.5 

Potatoes 

1.8 

Mangels 

.7 

Swedes 

.6 

Carrots 

1.0 

Turaips 

.6 

^'  The  oil  cakes  yield  the  richest  manure,  as  they  con- 
tain a  large  amount  both  of  nitrogen  and  phosphoric 
acid,  with  a.  considerable  amount  of  potash.  Next  to 
these  come  the  leguminous  seeds,  malt-dust  and  bran. 
Clover  hay  yields  a  richer  manure  than  the  cereal  grains, 
but  meadow  hay  stands  below  them.  The  cereal  grains 
and  the  roots  contain  about  the  same  proportion  of 
nitrogen  in  their  dry  substance ;  the  roots,  however, 
supply  much  more  potash.  Potatoes  stand  below  roots 
in  their  manurial  value.  Straw  takes  the  lowest  place 
as  a  manure-yielding  food ;  bean  and  pea  straw  are 
more  valuable  for  this  purpose  than  the  straw  of  the 
cereals. 

^'^  The  ash  constituents  present  in  animal  manure  have 
probably  the  full  money  value  of  the  same  constituents 
in  artificial  manure,  but  the  nitrogen  has  apparently  a 
lower  value  than  the  nitrosfen  of  ammonium  salts  or 


172  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

nitrate  of  sodium,  from  the  slowness  with  which  it  be- 
comes available  for  the  plant's  use." — The  greater  per- 
manence in  the  soil  of  this  element  of  the  manure,  how- 
ever, is  a  poiut  worthy  of  high  consideration. 

As  giving  some  practical  results  of  actual  dairy  prac- 
tice, the  following  instances  of  successful  feeding  of  dairy 
cows  by  some  prominent  dairymen  in  Xew  York  State 
may  be  usefully  mentioned  here.  They  were  -given  by 
Mr.  Scoville  of  New  Hartford,  N.  Y.,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  New  Y'ork  State  Dairymen's  Association. 

Mr.  Scoville  visited  a  few  farms  in  the  vicinity  of  ' 
Syracuse,  among  which  were  the  Avery  farms,  conducted 
by  the  Skiff  Brothers.  They  had  at  that  time  sixty  cows 
in  milk.  The  cows  were  fed  morning  and  evening,  two 
quarts  of  middlings,  three  quarts  of  shorts,  with  a  half- 
bushel  of  corn  ensilage.  The  shorts  and  middlings  were 
thrown  upon  the  ensilage  when  the  latter  was  given  to 
the  cows.  About  eig'ht  pounds  of  cut  hay  is  fed  to  each 
cow  at  noon.  About  a  half-acre  of  pasture  range  is  ay- 
portioned  to  each  cow  in  summer,  with  one  feed  at  even- 
ing of  green  clover,  green  oats  and  corn  to  follow  as  the 
season  advances.  The  milking  is  regular  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  five  at  night.  In  summer  there  is 
no  grain  feed.  In  winter  the  cows  are  bedded  with  cut 
straw  and  watered  once  a  day  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  usually  in  the  yard,  but  in  stormy  weather  in 
the  stable.  The  yield  of  milk  from  this  dairy,  as  gath- 
ered from  the  books  of  the  Onondaga  Milk  Associa- 
tion, for  the  twelve  months  ending  December,  1886,  was 
188,070  quarts,  an  average  to  each  cow  of  2,756  quarts, 
or  about  5,900  pounds  average. 

The  George  Grouse  farm  has  forty-three  cows  in  milk. 
Steaming  the  fodder  was  formerly  practiced  on  this  farm, 
but  has  been  abandoned.  The  feed  now  used  is  all  cut. 
Ensilage  forms  the  base  of  winter  feeding.  The  ration 
to   each   cow   twice  a  day  is  a  half-bushel   of   ensilage, 


FEEDIN^G   KATIONS.  173 

morning  and  niglifc,  and  about  six  quarts  of  brewers' 
grains  with  cut  hay  at  noon.  The  cows  stand  in  stanch- 
ions and  the  feeding  is  in  a  trough  in  front  of  them, 
six  inches  in  depth  and  two  feet  wide.  The  cows  are 
watered  from  these  feeding  troughs  from  a  stop-cock 
at  one  end.  The  cows  are  kept  in  the  stable  and 
let  out  only  on  very  pleasant  days,  and  not  left  out 
over  half  an  hour  at  a  time.  When  exposed  to  the 
cold  for  any  length  of  time,  there  is  a  perceptible  fall- 
ing off  of  the  milk  yield.  In  very  cold  weather  the  chill 
is  taken  from  the  water  in  the  tank  by  steam  pipes. 
The  grinding  of  the  grain  and  cutting  of  the  feed  are 
done  by  steam  power.  In  summer  about  three-fourths 
of  an  acre  of  pasture  is  allowed  to  each  cow,  with  green 
feed  once  a  day  at  night.  The  yield  of  milk  from  thirty- 
six  cows  kept  on  this  farm  during  the  year  ending  1886 
equaled  5,500  pounds  to  a  cow. 

Another  farm  visited  was  that  of  B.  Chaffee,  who  feeds 
about  one  bushel  of  ensilage  to  each  full-grown  cow  twice 
a  day,  with  a  peck  of  brewers'  grains  and  three  quarts  of 
bran  and  hay  at  noon  and  evening.  Mr.  Chaffee  has  a 
silo  which  cost  complete  $750.  The  silo  is  thirty-two  by 
twenty-one  feet,  divided  by  inside  wall  into  two  equal 
silos,  twenty-four  feet  high  from  the  bottom  of  silo  to  top 
of  the  plate.  The  bottom  of  the  silo  is  about  nine  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  sixteen  feet  of  wall 
is  concrete,  eighteen  inches  thick  at  the  bottom  and  one 
foot  on  top,  and  perfectly  plumb  on  the  inside.  The  in- 
side walls  of  the  silo  are  finished  with  round  corners,  and 
it  takes  eighteen  planks,  one  foot  v/ide  and  fourteen  feet 
long,  to  cover  each  silo.  The  walls  of  the  silo  are  made 
with  waterlime  concrete  and  cobble-stone,  excepting 
that  the  corners  are  laid  with  quarried  stone.  The  larger 
proportion  of  corn  used  for  ensilage  was  the  Southern 
White,  and  field  and  sweet  corn.  The  sweet  corn  ears 
were  sent  to  the  canning  factory.     Mr.  Chaffee's  milk 


174 

record  of  thirteen  cows  for  the  last  year  showed  an 
average  of  G,300  jjounds  to  each  cow. 

The  Demming  farm,  near  the  cit}^  of  Auburn,  has 
been  managed  for  many  yearrf  by  A.  D.  Murdock.  It 
>  contains  sometliing  over  three  hundred  acres.  There 
are  usually  fifty  or  sixty  acres  in  wheat  and  about  forty 
acres  field  corn,  besides  other  graiu.  About  sixty  cows 
in  milk  are  usually  kejDt  on  this  farm.  Mr.  Murdock 
uses  no  ensilage,  but,  with  steam  power  on  the  farm, 
cuts  and  grinds  all  his  own  feed.  The  winter  feed  of  his 
cows  is  in  substance  as  follows  :  A  bushel  of  cut  corn- 
stalks night  and  morning,  with  about  seven  quarts  of  the 
mixture  of  tw^o  busliels  barley  sj)routs,  six  bushels  bran,* 
two  bushels  middlings  or  corn  meal,  all  thoroughly  mixed 
together.  In  winter  the  cows  are  out  from  one  to  two 
hours,  when  the  day  is  pleasant,  for  exercise.-  The 
cows  are  sometimes  kept  in  the  stable  for  three  weeks 
at  a  time  in  stormy  weather  without  aj^parent  injury. 
They  are  watered  in  the  stable  from  a  trough  con- 
veniently arranged  in  front  of  them.  In  summer  they 
are  pastured,  and  when  the  pastures  become  dry  and  the 
feed  scanty  they  receive  a  supplement  of  some  green-cut 
fodder.  The  stock  of  cattle  on  this  farm  is  replenished 
by  raising  the  calves. 

On  the  farm  of  Charles  E.  Benton,  near  Utica,  con- 
taining 130  acres,  forty  cows  are  kept,  which  in  winter 
are  fed  hay,  brewers'  grains,  shorts  and  meal,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one-third  bushel  of  grains  to  four  quarts  of 
shorts  and  two  quarts  of  corn  meal  mixed,  with  a  little 
salt  added.  When  grains  are  not  obtainable,  roots  are 
fed.  In  summer  they  are  kept  in  pasture,  and  fed  twice 
each  day  brewers'  grains  and  green-cut  clover  or  corn. 

On  the  farm  of  Dr.  L.  L.  Wight,  of  Wliitesboro,  are 
kept  about  fifty  cows.  A  specialty  of  this  farm  is  to 
supply  milk  in  winter,  the  cows  dropping  their  calves 
late  in  the  autumn.     The   food  is  a  bushel,  of  corn 


MANAGEMEKT   OF   COWS   li^   THE   STABLE.  175 

ensilage  three  times  a  day,  and  in  the  morning  and  at 
night  about  live  pounds  of  shorts  during  the  winter.  In 
summer  the  cows  are  kept  to  pasture.  The  cows  are 
watered  in  winter  by  turning  them  out  in  squads  of 
about  fifteen.  While  fed  this  amount  of  ensilage,  the 
cows  require  but  little  water.  While  the  cows  go  dry 
before  calving,  no  shorts  or  grain  is  fed.  By  long  ex- 
periment in  feeding  on  this  farm,  it  is  found  that  the 
best  and  largest  flow  of  milk  is  obtained  when  shorts  alone 
are  fed  with  ensilage.  About  thirty  acres  of  corn  are 
planted,  ten  acres  of  which  are  used  for  soiling  and  the 
balance  made  in  ensilage.  About  two-thirds  of  this  was 
sweet  corn,  which  was  allowed  to  ear,  and  the  corn 
was  used  for  canning,  the  stalks  being  made  into  ensilage. 
The  corn  is  drilled  in  rows  four  feet  apart,  and  harrowed 
with  a  smoothing  harrow  till  six  inches  high,  when  the 
cultivator  is  used.  The  corn  is  cut  with  the  reaper  and 
left  in  bundles  to  be  loaded  upon  the  wagon,  hauled  to 
the  silo  and  cut.  The  cutting  is  done  with  a  six-horse 
power  engine.  Fifty  tons  are  cut  and  put  in  the  silo  in 
a  day. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

MANAGEMENT    OF    COWS    IN   THE    STABLE. 

Milk  is  one  of  the  most  actively  absorbent  of  all 
substances.  It  acquires  most  easily  the  odors  which  es- 
cape from  adjacent  objects.  When  the  author  was  in 
Europe  some  years  ago  and  visited  a  noted  French  dairy 
at  Isegny,  he  found  the.  stable  windows  filled  with  pots 
of  growing  roses,  and  a  portion  of  the  yard  in  front  of 
the  stable  fenced  off  from  the  rest  was  occupied  by  beds 
of  the  standard  roses  peculiar  to  French  gardens,  which 
bear  large  heads  of  profuse  bloom  at  the  top  of  a  single 


176  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

stem  four  or  five  feet  Ingli.  The  stable  and  yard  were 
redolent  with  the  perfume  of  these  roses,  and  of  helio- 
tropes and  other  sweet-scented  flowers.  The  dairy- 
house  was  embowered  with  roses  and  other  flowers.  The 
batter  sent  to  the  Paris  market  every  day  was  packed  in 
boxes  with  fresh  green  leaves  and  a  quantity  of  roses 
spread  upon  the  linen  cover  over  the  butter.  Without 
going  quite  so  far  as  this  French  dairyman,  whose  butter 
is  sent  to  Paris,  London  and  Vienna,  and,  packed  in 
casks  of  brine,  to  the  East  Indies,  the  American  dairy- 
man should  at  least  i^reserve  his  stable  free  from  the  ill 
odors  so  common  to  these  buildings.  It  has-  been  said  in 
regard  to  scents  that  the  best  odor  is  the  absence  of 
scent,  and  this  certainly  applies  to  a  butter  dairy  from 
the  beginning  to  the  ending.  For  as  *^good  wine  needs 
no  bush"  so  good  butter  needs  no  perfume  more  than 
its  own  natural  sweetness  and  pure  agreeable  aroma. 

Nevertheless,  the  presence  of  a  green  lawn  and  flowers 
about  a  stable  would  certainly  tend  to  the  preservation  of 
that  perfect  cleanliness  which  is  the  great  secret  of  success 
in  the  dairy.  And  it  might  be  a  most  yaluable  addition  to 
the  cow  stable  as  an  inducement  to  keep  all  other  things 
consistent  with  it.  A  lady  visitor  to  the  author's  dairy, 
placing  her  hand  upon  one  of  the  well-brushed  and  clean- 
skinned  cows,  remarked  :  ''Why,  everything  is  as  clean 
and  neat  as  a  parlor;  it  seems  so  strange  and  unlike  a  cow 
stable."  It  was  certainly  our  wish  and  effort  to  keep 
the  stable  ahvays  so,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  this 
visit  was  made  at  the  time  when  the  daily  cleaning  had 
just  been  completed,  the  floor  neatly  littered  with  cut 
straw  and  leaves,  the  gutter  filled  with  fresh  dry  swamp 
muck  and  dusted  over  with  plaster,  and  the  cows 
brushed  and  carded  for  the  evening  milking.  A  glass 
of  fresh  milk  newly  drawn  from  a  cow  under  such  circum- 
stances is  a  delicacy,  w^hile  it  would  be  wholly  repugnant 
under  the  too  common  circumstances  prevalent  in  cow 


MANAGEMENT   OF   COWS   IN   THE   STABLE.  177 

stables.  But  the  dairyman  who  would  excel  in  his  busi- 
ness and  stand  at  the  top,  must  practice  this  thorough 
cleanliness  in  every  detail.  Pure,  fragrant  milk,  sound, 
well-flavored  cheese,  and  the  finest  and  sweetest  butter 
are  procured  only  under  these  conditions.  The  cows 
themselves,  too,  are  as  absorbent  of  impurities  as  the 
milk.  Tlie  air  breathed  into  the  lungs,  and  carried 
through  all  the  intricate  cellular  passages  and  chambers 
of  the  lung  tissue,  is  brought  into  contact  with  an  infinite 
number  of  capillary  blood  vessels,  which  absorb  the  air  and 
discharge  the  load  of  impurities  brought  from  every  part 
of  the  animal's  body.  If  tlie  air  is  not  pure  the  offen- 
sive matter  is  taken  into  the  blood,  and  some  of  the  im- 
purities in  this  fluid  are  retained,  thus  poisoning  the 
very  source  from  which  the  whole  animal  system  is 
nourished.  A  stream  is  never  purer  than  its  source,  and 
thus  the  animal  is  polluted  by  this  absorbed  impurity 
which  is  forced  to  escape  in  some  way.  As  the  milk  is  a 
direct  product  from  the  blood,  the  blood  discharges  its 
offensive  load  in  part  with  this  secretion,  and  impure 
blood  cannot  make  pure  milk.  Besides,  the  self-preserv- 
ing instincts,  or  rather  laws,  of  animal  life  tend  to  force 
the  blood  to  throw  off  impure  matter  in  the  easiest  way, 
and  as  a  large  quantity  of  milk  is  secreted  daily  and  the 
milk  glands  are  exceedingly  active,  any  impure  matter  in 
the  blood  is  rapidly  discharged  through  the  milk  glands.  , 
An  instance  of  this  was  afforded  when  a  quantity  of 
frozen  turnip  leaves  left  in  the  stable,  which  was  filled 
with  the  odor  of  them,  caused  the  milk  to  smell  disa- 
greeably by  the  absorption  of  the  odor  through  the  cows. 
Physicians  are  well  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  the 
perspiration  and  urine  of  painters  who  use  turpentine 
always  have  an  odor,  more  or  less,  of  the  turpentine. 
Disease  is  most  prevalent  where  impure  air  prevails,  and 
if  disease  and  death  are  produced  by  the  absorption  of 
impurities  we  cannot  expect  pure  milk  from  foul  stables. 


178  THE    DAIKYMAX'S   MANUAL. 

Thus  the  careful  management  of  the  cows  becomes  an 
important  part  of  the  business  of  a  dairyman.  The  stable 
should  be  clean,  or  the  cows  cannot  be  clean  ;  it  should 
be  well  aired  and  ventilated,  or  the  air  in  it  will  be  im- 
pure ;  it  should  be  made  comfortable,  or  the  cows  will 
be  worried  and  yield  less  milk  ;  it  should  be  cool  in  sum- 
mer and  warm  in  winter.  There  should  be  a  convenient 
way  to  dispose  of  the  manure,  and  a  convenient  and  safe 
mode  of  entrance  and  exit.  The  fastenings  should  be 
safe.  The  cows  should  be  separated  so  that  they  cannot 
hook  or  punch  each  other  when  fastened,  and  yet  be  so 
close  together  that  space  is  economized  ;  they  should  be 
thoroughly  carded  and  brushed  twice  a  day,  and  immedi- 
ately before  milking,  and  in  every  way  they  should  be 
preserved  from  uncleanliness  and  annoyance,  and  kept 
contented  and  happy. 

The  following  system  of  management  has  been  adopted 
and  practiced  in  the  author's  dairy: 

The  stable  has  been  described  in  a  preceding  chapter. 
The  cows  are  stabled  every  night  through  the  year ;  in 
the  winter  for  warmth  and  shelter,  and  in  the  summer 
for  coolness  and  for  safety  from  flies,  also  for  the  saving 
of  manure.  The  manure  made  is  an  item  of  importance 
and  is  an  object  of  solicitude  ;  the  management  is  there- 
fore to  some  extent  made  consistent  with  the  saving  of 
all  the  manure  possible. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  stable  is  cleaned  by 
opening  the  trap  doors  in  the  gutter  and  drawing  out  the 
manure  into  the  cellar  by  means  of  a  large  hoe,  fourteen 
inches  wide  to  fit  the  gutter,  the  gutter  is  then  washed 
out  with  a  few  pailfuls  of  water  from  the  pump,  and 
brushed  out  with  a  stiff  broom,  after  which  the  trap 
doors  are  closed.  The  standing  floors  and  passage- 
way behind  the  cows  are  previously  swept.  The  floor 
and  gutter  are  then  sprinkled  liberally  with  gypsum 
(plaster),  and  are  littered  down  with  leaves,  cut  straw^ 


MANAGEMENT   OF   COWS   IN  THE   STABLE.  179 

or  hardwood  sav/dust,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  two  or 
three  wheelbarrows  of  dry  swamp  muck  are  scattered 
along  the  gutter.  The  cows  are  then  well  carded  and 
brushed,  and  a  little  hay  or  green  fodder  is  given 
them,  by  which  time  breakfast  is  ready.  After  break- 
fast the  cows  are  fed  in  the  manner  previously  described 
and  while  eating  they  are  milked.  This  plan  has  been 
adopted  as  the  best  in  every  way,  and  it  certainly  tends 
much  to  the  largest  yield  of  milk.  As  each  cow  is 
milked  the  pail  and  milk  are  weighed  on  a  spring  balance 
hanging  in  the  stable,  and  the  weight  is  marked  down 
on  a  slate  or  a  tablet  hanging  on  the  wall  at  the  back  of 
the  cows.  The  milk  is  then  strained  from  the  pail, 
which  has  a  lip  strainer,  through  a  separate  double 
strainer  of  wire  gauze  with  a  fine  linen  muslin  stretched 
over  it,  into  a  deep  pail.  The  milk  is  thus  passed 
through  four  strainers  at  one  operation,  and  perfect 
cleanliness  is  secured.  After  milking,  if  any  cow  evinces 
a  desire  for  more  feed,  an  additional  supply  is  given 
to  satisfy  her.  The  system  is  to  give  to  each  cow  all  she 
can  be  persuaded  to  eat.  If  any  cow's  food  is  not  all 
eaten  the  fact  is  noted  and  the  reason  ascertained.  If 
the  milk  of  any  cow  has  fallen  off  or  has  increased  more 
than  the  usual  small  variance  from  day  to  day,  this  is 
made  a  matter  for  inquiry  and  note. 

In  the  summer  the  cows  are  then  let  out  and  taken  to 
the  pasture  or  a  grass  lot,  or  kept  in  the  yard,  as  the  case 
may  be,  and  have  as  much  water  as  they  desire.  The 
yard  is  always  kept  clean,  the  manure  being  taken  up 
and  thrown  upon  the  heap  in  the  center  of  the  yard.  In 
the  winter  the  cows  are  kept  in  the  stable  and  remain 
there  until  noon,  when  they  are  watered.  In  the  hot 
weather,  when  flies  are  troublesome,  great  care  is  taken 
to  preserve  the  cows  from  annoyance.  This  plague  of 
flies  is  very  detrimental  to  the  cows,  and  should  be 
avoided   in  every  possible   way. 


180  THE    dairyman's   MANUAL. 

The  liberal  use  of  plaster  (finely  powdered  gypsum), 
or  a  solution  of  two  pounds  of  copperas  in  a  barrel  of 
water,  in  the  stables  is  at  once  a  cheap,  simple,  and 
effective  relief.  It  sweetens  the  air  of  the  stables,  which 
is  equivalent  to  increased  ventilation,  and  thus  permits 
the  windows  to  be  protected  with  fine  wire  gauze  or 
mosquito  netting,  Avhich  to  some  extent  obstructs  tbe 
free  passage  of  air.  A  peck  of  plaster,  at  the  cost  of  a 
few  cents — all  returned,  of  course,  in  the  manure  after- 
ward— is  sprinkled  over  a  floor  fifty  by  twenty-four  feet, 
and  more  freely  in  the  manure  gutter  than  elsewhere ; 
or  a  pailful  of  the  solntion  of  copperas  is  spread  from  a 
garden  watering-can  over  the  floor,  and  these  applica- 
tions are  made  after  clearing  off  the  floor  and  sweeping 
it.  Occasionally  the  floor  is  washed  off  "with  a  hose  at- 
tached to  a  force-pump  in  the  yard,  or  to  one  on  the 
cistern  close  by,  and  the  floor  is  then  freely  sprinkled 
with  sand  brought  from  the  root  cellar  under  a  portion 
of  the  cow  stable.  A  bushel  basket  of  the  sand  is  suf- 
ficient for  one  day's  use.  This  avoids  the  certain  danger 
of  the  cows  slipping  upon  the  damp  floor,  dries  it,  and 
also  absorbs  some  of  the  odor. 

To  darken  the  windows  is  a  great  relief,  and  this  is 
done  by  having  green  blinds,  which  afford  free  ventila- 
tion while  excluding  the  light.  The  same  result  may  bo 
reached  by  covering  the  windows  with  whitewash  of 
Spanish  white,  in  which  some  indigo  or  Prussian  blue  is 
mixed,  or  a  little  lampblack  may  be  used,  but  the  tinge 
is  then  dark  and  somber,  and  the  blue  is  the  best.  If 
the  window^s  are  on  the  north  side  of  the  stable  so  much 
the  better,  as  the  flies  gather  mostly  upon  the  south  and 
west  sides.  The  stable  may  be  quite  freed  from  flies  in 
the  afternoon,  when  they  are  unusually  abundant,  by 
stirring  a  pot  of  coal-tar  Avith  a  hot  poker  so  as  to  fill  the 
building  with  a  dense  smoke,  but  the  iron  should  not  be 
80  hot  as  to  cause  the  tar  to  take  fire.     This  smoke  is 


MAKAGEMEXT  OF   COWS   li^   THE   STABLE.  18i 

healthful,  and  with  a  little  care  there  need  be  no  risk  in 
making  it.  Then  there  are  some  applications  that  may 
be  made  to  the  animals  themselves.  Wormwood,  tansy, 
tomato  leaves,  and,  best  of  all,  carbolic  acid  in  water 
(one  dram  to  a  pailful),  may  be  applied  to  their  skins, 
and  chiefly  the  legs,  the  last  thing  in  the  evening,  and 
left  on  to  dry.  The  last  two  years  we  have  used  Persian 
insect  powder  with  the  best  results.  A  small  quantity 
of  this  dusted  freely  through  the  stable  and  blown 
through  a  tube  on  to  the  ceiling,  stanchions,  and  stalls, 
will  kill  every  fly  in  the  stable,  and,  if  the  entrance  of 
others  is  prevented,  a  quiet  night  will  be  enjoyed.  Un- 
fortunately, this  is  a  costly  substance,  selling  at  fifty 
cents  a  pound  ;  but  a  little  goes  a  long  way,  as  it  is  very 
fine  and  light  and  floats  in  the  air.  For  rooms  in 
houses,  and  e323ecially  kitchens,  it  is  indispensable  once 
it  has  been  used,  as  the  flies  may  all  be  destroyed  in  the 
evening  and  more  kept  out  at  least  for  a  few  hours  in 
the  morning ;  and  a  house  may  be  freed  from  flies  by 
keeping  it  dark  through  the  day,  for  the  pests  always 
make  for  the  light.  A  tame  bat,  which  we  first  found 
hanging  in  its  usual  way  to  the  cord  behind  a  picture, 
and  which  now  stays  with  us,  clears  the  rooms  at  night 
of  every  fly.  During  the  night  it  goes  from  room  to 
room,  the  doors  being  left  open  for  it.  It  will  be  found 
better  to  encourage  these  harmless  creatures  in  this  w^ay 
to  enter  the  house  and  stable  than  to  attack  them  with 
brooms  and  kill  them,  to  the  eminent  risk  of  destroying 
glassware  and  mantel  ornaments. 

But  all  the  flies  cannot  be  got  rid  of  ;  some  will  remain 
in  spite  of  all  endeavors.  For  these,  when  milking,  we 
keep  a  sheet,  which  is  thrown  over  the  back  of  the  cow, 
and  that  prevents  the  lashing  of  the  tail  and  the  kicking 
which  is  so  disagreeable  and  risky  for  the  milk  pail.  A 
little  bundle  of  horse-hair,  tied  to  the  end  of  a  light 
handle,  is  a  part  of  the  milking  utensils,  and  lies  handy 


18^  THE   dairyman's  MANUAL. 

to  be  picked  up  to  brush  the  flies  from  the  forelegs  when 
they  become  troublesome  there. 

In  the  summer  the  cows  are  brought  in  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  and  put  into  tlieir  places  in  tbe  clean 
stable.  They  are  very  eager  to  come  in,  and  are  usually 
standing  at  the  gate  waiting  for  an  hour  or  more  before 
the  time  comes.  If  not,  they  come  at  the  call  of  a  whis- 
tle which  they  have  learned  is  the  summons  to  their 
evening  meal.  The  same  routine  as  to  brushing,  feeding 
and  milking  is  gone  through,  and  when  all  is  finished 
it  is  supper  time.  After  supper,  and  the  last  thing  before 
retiring  for  the  night,  the  stable  is  visited  and  the  cows 
looked  over,  the  fastenings  being  especially  examined  to 
be  sure  every  cow  is  safely  secured.  This  is  quite  im- 
portant and  an  instance  of  this  may  be  noted.  Once 
when  visiting  a  well-known  breeder  of  valuable  Jersey 
cows  and  a  noted  maker  of  fine  butter,  about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening  we  suggested  that  a  walk  be 
taken  and  the  cows  looked  at,  remarking  that  this 
was  never  neglected  in  our  dairy.  Our  fiiend  laughed 
at  our  overcarefulness,  but  went  out  and  passed 
through  the  stables.  On  coming  to  the  loose  stalls 
where  the  most  valuable  cows  were  kept,  one  was  found 
down  with  her  head  under  the  manger  and  the  tie  rope 
tangled  around  one  foreleg  and  her  neck.  It  was  a  fatal 
predicament  had  the  cow  not  been  quickly  released,  for 
the  rope  was  pressing  on  the  cow's  throat.  '^  That  idea  of 
yours  has  saved  me  81500,"  said  my  friend  as  we  returned 
to  the  house,  '^for  that  cow  is  sold  to  go  to  Canada  at 
that  price  as  soon  as  she  has  calved,  and  she  could  not 
have  lived  in  that  way  until  morning." 

For  the  sake  of  safety,  all  the  inner  doors  in  the 
stables  are  made  to  open  and  shut  from  the  inside  next 
the  cows,  and  to  shut  themselves  by  coiled  springs  and 
fasten  with  a  spring  latch,  so  that  no  animals  can  get 
from  their  own  place  to  the  others  or  out  of  doors,  or 


MAXAGEME^^T   OF   COWS   IN   THE   STABLE.  183 

to  the  feed  rooms  or  the  feed  on  the  floor,  should  they 
get  unfastened.  The  ground  feed  is  kept  on  the  floor 
oyer  the  stable,  and  in  every  possible  way  precautions 
are  taken  for  entire  safety.  No  matches  are  kept  about 
the  buildings  ;  no  smoking  has  been  permitted,  and  no 
light  is  used  excepting  the  safety  kerosene  oil  lanterns,  i 
in  which  the  safest  and  best  oil  is  burned.  The  lanterns 
are  hun^g,  when  in  use,  upon  bracket  hooks  over  the  pas- 
sage-way, above  the  reach  of  a  man's  head.  The  outer 
door  of  the  stable  is  then  locked  and  the  day's  business  is 
ended.  Similar  practice  prevails  with  the  calves,  bull, 
and  horses,  and  all  the  farm  management  is  brought  to 
a  systematic  routine,  through  which  one  never  needs  to 
stop  and  ask  what  is  next  to  be  done. 

The  chief  business  of  this  dairy  has  been  winter  butter 
making,  and  the  cows  have  been  brought  in  from  Sep- 
tember until  December.  The  course  of  breeding  has 
been  such  as  to  bring  each  cow  into  liiilking  at  about  the 
same  time  in  each  year,  and  the  heifers  about  September 
or  October,  so  as  to  give  them  as  long  a  milking  season 
as  possible  with  the  first  calf.  Some  particular  care  is 
taken  with  the  incoming  cows.  If  not  naturally  dried 
off  two  months  before  the  calf  is  due,  milking  is  grad- 
ually suspended  so  as  to  have  six  weeks  at  least  of  rest. 
AVhen  the  cow  shows  indications  of  early  calving,  she  is 
moved  to  the  stall  in  the  further  end  of  the  open  shed 
and  nearest  to  the  house,  where  she  is  under  careful 
supervision  until  the  calf  is  born.  As  soon  as  the 
milking  is  suspended,  all  grain  feeding  is  stopped,  and 
only  dry  long  hay  is  fed.  The  cow  is  left  loose  in  the 
stall,  which  is  well  littered  and  is  kept  clean.  AYhen  the 
calf  is  dropped,  the  cow  is  tied  up  and  is  fed  a  meal  of 
warm  bran  mash.  The  calf  is  removed  at  once  to  the 
pen  at  the  further  end  of  the  yard.  In  six  hours  the  cow 
is  milked,  and  the  milk  is  given  to  the  calf,  which  is 
taught  to  drink.     The  cow  is  never  troubled  about  the 


184  THE  DAIRYMAK*S  MANTJAL. 

calf  after  this,  and  comes  to  her  milk  without  any  of  the 
common  difficulties  of  holding  up  the  milk,  sore  teats, 
etc.,  which  appertain  to  cows  suckling  calves.  The  food 
given  is  dry  liay  with  the  usual  warm  bran  mash,  until 
the  fourth  day,  after  which  the  cow  goes  back  to  her 
place  in  the  stable  and  is  gradually  brought  up  to  her 
full  feeding.  Large  milking  cows  very  often  have  the 
udder  hard,  and  milk  very  little  for  the  first  and  second 
days.  This  is  the  natural  condition  of  the  udder  of  a 
newly  calved  cow,  the  glandular  substance  of  which  is 
excited  but  has  not  yet  come  into  action.  In  a  short 
time  the  glands  get  to  work  and  begin  -to  secrete  milk 
copiously,  and  then  the  udder  softens  down  and  comes 
into  a  natural  condition  again.  There  is  no  reason  to 
fuss  over  the  hard  udder  the  first  or  second  day  and  to 
apprehend  trouble,  and  as  long  as  the  udder  is  free  from 
inflammation  and  extreme  tenderness  there  need  be  no 
anxiety.  When  the  chapter  on  milk  is  reached,  this 
condition  of  the  udder  will  be  explained,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  it  is  naturally  to  be  expected  from  the  neces- 
sities of  the  case.  To  attempt  by  unnecessary  fomenta- 
tion, or  the  use  of  exciting  applications,  to  remove  this 
supposed  trouble  in  the  udder,  is  to  most  likely  cause  the 
very  result  one  is  apprehending  and  trying  to  avoid. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

REARING  CALVES  FOR  THE  DAIRY. 

The  calves  are  the  means  for  the  improvement  of  the 
dairy.  By  a  gradual  course  of  breeding,  rearing,  and  de- 
velopment the  calves  become  the  basis  for  all  the  skill 
of  the  dairyman's  work  in  improving  his  stock  and  in  in- 
creasing their  valuable  product.  Breed  is  made  up  of 
feed  and  the  most  skillful  care,  and  by  judicious  manage- 


REARING  CALVES  FOR  THE  DAIRY.  185 

menfc  the  calves  are  developed  into  more  useful  and  pro- 
ductive animals  than  their  dams,  until  in  course  of  time 
the  improvement  becomes  fixed  and  is  inherited  by  the 
progeny.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  improved  breeds 
liave  been  made  up.  The  Shorthorn  cattle  have  been 
thus  trained  and  educated — this  word  means  literally 
''lead  out"  or  brought  out — for  over  a  hundred  years, 
until  they  have  become  the  finest  beef  cattle  in  existence. 
The  Ayrshires  have  thus  been  made  a  most  excellent 
dairy  breed,  and  the  defects  of  the  original  race  have 
been  bred  out  by  selection  and  care  in  the  breeding  of 
the  young  stock.  The  Jerseys  have  been  brought  up  in 
size,  productiveness  and  beauty  during  the  past  thirty 
years  by  the  same  process,  until  they  have  become  greatly 
increased  in  value  ;  and  so  it  has  been  and  is  with  other 
races.  A  herd  of  our  common  native  cattle  has  been  im- 
proved during  the  short  space  of  seven  years  until  their 
product  has  been  doubled  and  their  appearance  greatly 
changed.  The  produce  of  one  cow  in  this  time  will  num- 
ber about  sixteen  animals  in  five  generations,  and  a  great 
deal  can  be  done  in  these  repeated  breedings.  The 
choice  of  a  pure  bred  bull  of  some  acknowledged  dairy 
breed  and  of  good  character  should  however  be  made, 
and  in  three  or  four  years  the  progeny,  if  well  selected, 
will  then  partake  of  the  good  qualities  of  the  pure  breed. 
Half  bred  Jersey,  Gruernsey  or  Ayrshire  calves  have  been 
found  equally  valuable  for  product  with  the  pure  bred 
ones,  and,  as  a  rule,  these  half  bred  calves,  from  well  se- 
lected sires  and  the  best  native  cows,  will  be  found  on 
an  average  to  be  superior  for  product  to  an  average  of 
the  pure  bred  cows.  Such  has  been  the  experience 
of  dairymen  who  have  thus  started  on  a  course  of  im- 
provement of  their  common  stock. 

The  calf  thus  well  bred  must  be  well  fed  and  trained. 
It  is  by  no  means  necessary  that  the  calf  should  be  fed 
upon  fresh  milk  from  the  cow.     Cream  ai  i  fat  are  not 


186  THE   DA1RYMA]S"*S  MAl5riTAL. 

required  by  a  calf  intended  for  the  dairy,  but  a  good 
frame  of  bones  covered  with  healthful  muscular  tissue. 
These  are  abundantly  supplied  by  skimmed  milk,  and 
the  milk  is  well  and  fully  digested  when  given  warm 
and  at  a  temperature  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  stom- 
ach. Eighty  degrees  is  a  very  good  temperature  for  the 
milk  for  a  young  calf.  An  excellent  method  of  feeding 
a  calf  intended  for  the  dairy  is  as  follows.  Heifers  only 
should  be  reared,  as  the  cost  of  fattening  a  male  calf  is 
greater  than  its  value  for  veal,  and  males  should  only  be 
reared  when  their  value  for  breeding  purposes  offers 
a  chance  for  profit. 

The  calf,  removed  to  a  dry  comfortable  pen  away  from 
the  cow,  is  given  the  whole  milk  warm  from  the  cow, 
twice  a  day,  for  four  days  ;  the  ninth  meal  is  made  up  of 
half  the  fresh  milk  and  half  sweet  skimmed  milk,  warmed 
to  the  same  temperature  as  the  new  milk.  Three  quarts 
are  a  sufficient  meal  for  a  calf  at  this  age,  if  two  meals 
a  day  are  given  ;  if  three  meals  are  given  two  quarts  at 
each  will  be  sufficient.  Overfeeding  at  this  stage  is  to  be 
avoided,  and  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  young 
calf,  if  sucking  the  cow%  will  get  only  a  small  meal  at  a 
time,  and  its  digestive  functions  are  not  as  yet  prepared  to 
dispose  of  several  quarts  of  milk  at  once.  The  quantity 
should  be  gradually  increased  as  the  calf  can  digest  it, 
until  three  meals  of  three  quarts  each  are  disposed  of, 
or  two  meals  daily  of  four  or  five  quarts  each,  at 
the  end  of  a  month.  The  milk  should  be  given  sweet 
and  always  at  the  same  temperature.  If  by  any  accident 
diarrhoea  should  occur,  a  quart  only  of  new  milk  warm 
from  the  cow,  or  heated  to  ninety  degrees,  will  stop  it,  if 
no  other  food  is  given.  In  nearly  every  case  this  dis- 
order is  caused  by  an  excess  of  food  and  consequent  in- 
digestion, or  the  use  of  sour  milk.  When  a  month  old 
the  calf  may  be  taught  to  lick  a  little  finely  ground  com, 
bran  and  linseed  mixed  m  equal  parts.     A  teaspoonful  is 


RlAElKG  CALVES  FOR  THE  DAIRY. 


187 


enough  to  begin  with,  gradually  increased  up  to  a  table- 
spoonful  daily  at  two  months,  four  ounces  daily  at  three 
months,  eight  ounces  daily  at  five  months,  and  a  pound 
at  six  months,  f'rom  three  months  up,  six  quarts  of 
milk  twice  a  day  may  be  given,  and  at  a  month  old  the 
calves  should  have  a  run  in  a  grass  pasture  of  a  quarter 
of  an  acre  or  so,  enclosed  purposely  y/ith  portable  fence, 
which  is  moved  to  give  fresh  grass  as  may  be  required. 
At  two  months  the  calf  will  begin  to  drink  a  little  water, 
which  should  thereafter  be. provided.  In  winter  some 
fresh,,  sweet,  early  cut  clover  hay  should  be  given  after 
the  first  month,  and  the  quantity  increased  gradually 
as  the  calf  learns  to  consume  it.  The  gradual  increase 
of  the  food  should  be  carefully  •  watched  ;  but  there 
is  no  danger  from  an  excess  of  hay;  it  is  the  grain  food 
which  is  more  apt  to  be  given  to  excess  and  do  harm. 


ULk 


\L\L 


& 


J 


I  II         I     '     't         I  i... 

Fig.   21,— PLAN  OF  CALF  PENS. 

There  is  a  temptation  when  a  calf  is  doing  well  to  give  a 
little  more  food,  in  the  hope  of  making  it  do  a  little 
better,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  try  to  force  a  young  animal 
ahead  of  its  ability  to  digest. 

The  young  calf  should  be  tied  up  from  the  first.  A 
small  halter  or  a  leather  strap  around  the  neck,  with  a 
ring,  and  a  light  rope  with  a  swivel  snap  hook  in  it,  may 
be  used  to  fasten  it  in  the  pen.  Calves  should  never  run 
together  loose  in  a  pen,  or  they  will  learn  to  sack  each 
other,  and  thus  contract  habits* which  will  be  trouble- 
some afterwards.  In  our  dairy  the  calf  pens  are  divided 
into  separate  stalls,  as  shown  at  figure  21.     These  are 


138  THE  DAIRYMAN*S  MAKUAL. 

five  by  seven  feet,  and  are  separated  by  barred  partitions, 
so  that  the  calves  can  see  each  other.  •  The  partitions  are 
four  feet  high.  A  rack  for  hay  is  made  on  one  side  and 
a  small  box  near  it  is  for  meal.  A  slide  door  is  made  in 
*  tlie  front  {a,  a)  large  enough  for  the  calf  to  put  its  head 
tiirough  easily,  and  in  front  of  it  is  a  shelf  with  a  recep- 
tacle for  a  i^ail,  in  which  milk  is  given  to  the  calf.  The 
calves  are  thus  fed  very  easily  and  quickly,  the  milk 
being  brought  to  the  pens  in  a  deep  pail  holding  fourteen 
quarts,  and  enough  for  four  or  five  calves  is  poured  into 
the  feeding  pails  and  each  pail  is  set  in  its  place.  The 
slide  door  is  then  opened  and  the  calf  drinks  its  milk 
without  any  trouble,  and  cannot  uj^set  the  pail.  A  few 
days'  training  is  required  before  the  calf  learns  all  this, 
but  with  patience  the  lesson  is  soon  taught.  Calves  are 
phenomenally  stupid,  and  much  patience  is  required  to 
manage  them  ;  but  it  is  far  easier  to  train  a  calf  kindly 
than  with  force  and  by  beating  it.  When  a  calf  learns 
not  to  fear  its  owner,  and  experiences  only  kindness,  it  is 
a  most  affectionate  animal,  and  this  trait  is  exhibited 
ever  afterwards  as  long  as  the  same  kind  treatment  is 
given  to  it.  For  the  comfort  and  profit  in  managing  a 
dairy  this  general  system  of  management  is  indispensable. 
At  times  it  is  certainly  trjdng  to  one's  patience  to  worry 
along  with  self-willed  and  stupid  calves,  but  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  our  training  is  contrary  to  their 
instincts,  and  we  are  teaching  them  to  acquire  new  habits 
and  unnatural  ways.  Rightly  considered,  it  is  amazing 
that  a  kind  and  gentle  owner  may  so  soon  reduce  a  young 
creature  to  submission  to  his  will  and  wholly  change 
its  natural  inclinations.  The  dairyman,  however,  should 
be  able  to  control  his  own  instincts  and  passions,  and 
then  will  be  better  able  to  train  his  calves  to  become 
docile,  patient,  gentle  and  useful  cows. 

When  six  months  old  and  done  with  milk-feedins:  the 
young  heifers  are  moved  into  the  cow  stable,  where  they 


reaeijn'g  calves  for  the  dairy.  189 

are  fastened,  fed  and  treated  as  the  cows  are,  being 
handled,  brushed  and  cleaned  daily.  This  they  submit 
to  without  trouble,  having  been  used  to  it  in  the  calf 
pens.  At  from  nine  to  twelve  months  old  they  are  bred, 
and  come  in  when  from  eighteen  to  twenty  months  old. 
The  feeding  of  a  heifer  should  be  liberal.  She  should 
have  regular  rations  of  the  feed  prepared  and  given  to 
the  cows,  and  about  half  as  much  of  it  will  be  eaten 
profitably.  Liberal  feeding  of  good  food  develops  the 
digestive  functions,  and  the  training  of  a  heifer  for  the 
dairy  should  be  such  as  to  encourage  the  healthful  dis- 
posal of  as  much  food  as  possible.  It  does  not  matter  if 
the  heifer  should  get  fat,  if  the  growth  is  not  stunted  by 
it.  The  gradual  development  of  the  normal  figure  of 
the  model  cow  should  be  watched,,  and  as  long  as  this 
development  is  going  on  satisfactorily  the  feeding  may  be 
persevered  in.  Excessive  fatness,  however,  is  a  bar  to  use- 
fulness in  the  dairy,  and  when  heifers  with  this  tendency 
to  fat  come  in  there  is  usually  some  defect  which  spoils 
the  animal  for  a  cow.  One  such  instance  occurred  in 
the  author's  dairy.  It  was  a  pure  bred  Ayrshire,  which 
as  a  calf  and  up  to  twelve  months  old  gave  every  prom- 
ise of  making  an  excellent  cow.  But  she  became  very 
fat,  and  up  to  her  coming  in  grew  rapidly  in  size  and 
rotundity.  On  calving  the  milk  was  blood  and  nothing 
else,  and  the  calf  would  not  touch  it.  She  w^as  kept  for. 
four  months  in  the  hope  that  the  milk  organs  would  be- 
come free  from  their  unusual  condition,  but  the  secre- 
tion of  blood  instead  of  milk  continued.  The  secretion 
was  not  milk  at  all,  but  an  albuminous  fluid  highly 
charged  with  the  red  corpuscles  of  the  blood.  Cream  or 
a  fatty  substance  separated  from  the  fluid,  but  it  was  red-  ' 
dish  yellow  in  color,  and  made  almost  red  butter.  It 
was  a  remarkable  instance  of  abnormal  action  of  the 
milk  glands,  which  had  no  power  to  secrete  milk  from 
the  blood  passing  through  them,  but  merely  discharged 


190  THE  dairyman's  maxual. 

the  blood  in  an  almost  j)ure  state.  The  cow  was  finally 
slaughtered  as  an  incurable.  If  a  heifer  becomes  fat  on 
liberal  feeding,  instead  of  enlarging  her  general  growth 
and  retaining  the  most  desirable  form,  she  should  be  dis- 
carded from  the  herd.  It  is  one  of  the  valuable  uses  of 
the  method  of  training  heifers,  that  as  they  develop  by 
age  and  growth  their  future  character  becomes  indicated. 
AVhen  the  heifer  approaches  the  period  of  calving,  the 
udder  and  teats  are  frequently  handled,  and  she  is  made 
famiUar  with  the  milk  pail  and  the  operation  of  milking. 
When  she  comes  into  the  stable  a  cow  there  is  no  trouble 
with  her. 

The  training  of  heifers  for  their  duties  in  the  dairy 
should  be  a  constant  care  of  the  dairyman.  Vicious  ani- 
mals, which  kick,  hold  up  their  milk,  suck  themselves, 
and  practice  the  other  usual  vices  of  disorderly  cows,  are 
all  made  so  by  want  of,  or  misdirected,  training.  The 
first  lesson  the  calf  learns  should  be  affection  for  its 
owner,  fearlessness,  and  docility.  Having  never  been 
maltreated  it  has  no  sense  of  fear  and  accepts  the  atten- 
tions of  its  owner  without  alarm.  Receiving  nothing 
but  kindness  and  its  food  from  him,  it  is  always  ready 
to  meet  him  with  eagerness,  and  soon  learns  to  come 
at  his  call.  Its  natural  instincts  are  even  readily  con- 
trollable, because  its  acquired  docility  accustoms  it  to 
give  way  to  the  management  of  its  owner,  and  it  never 
practices  those'  troublesome  vices  which  are  intolerable 
in  a  dairy.  It  becomes  in  every  respect  a  domesticated 
animal,  and  to  attain  this  result,  with  all  the  comfort 
and  advantages  it  involves,  should  be  the  constant  care 
of  the  dairyman  whose  crop  of  calves  is  being  har- 
M'ested.  Kindness  and  gentleness  in  the  owner  are  in- 
dispensable to  these  virtues  in  his  cattle. 


MILK. 


191 


CHAPTER    XV. 


MILK, 


Milk  is  an  exceedingly  complex  compound  liquid.  It 
is  a  saccharine  and  caseous  solution,  having  a  slightly 
alkaline  reaction  caused  by  the  presence  in  it  of  a  small 
quantity  of  free  soda.  It  also  contains  some  little  albu- 
men, which  varies,  sometimes  considerably,  and  this 
albumen  gives  to  it  a  more  or  less  viscous  character.  It 
has  the  following  average  composition,  as  given  by  Bec- 
querel  and  Vernois. 

Composition  of  Milk  of  Various  Animals. 


1,000  parts.  Hi/ma».\    Cow.   ;    Goaf.   \  Sheep, 

Jlare.  |     A.^x.    i    Sotv. 

nog. 

Specific! 

gravity.!  1032.67 

Water 889.08 

Solids....    110.92 

Fat 26.66 

Caseine  & 

albumen  39.24 
Sugar....  43.64 
Salts  (ash)-       1.38 

1033.38 

864.06 

135.94 

36.12 

55.15 

38.03 

6.64 

1033.5 
844.9 
155.1 

56.87 

55.14 

36.91 

6.18 

1011.0 
832.3 
167.7 
51.31 

69.78 

39.43 

7.16 

1033.74 
904.3 
95.7 
^.36 

33.35 

32.76 

5.23 

1034.6 
890.1 
109.9 
18.53 

35.65 

50.46 

5.24 

854;9 
145.1 

19.50 

84.5 
30.3 
10.9 

1041.6 
772.1 
227.9 
87.95 

116.88 

15.29 

7.80 

As  milk  is  seen  to  vary  considerably  in  different  races 
of  animals,  so  it  varies  quite  as  much  in  different  indi- 
viduals of  the  same  race.  Thus  Dr.  Sharpless  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  a  paper  presented  to  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences,  gives  the  following  analyses  of 
different  samples  of  cow's  milk  : 

Analyses  of  Cow's  Milk. 
~  No.  4. 


Sugar  .. 
Caseine . 
Ash.-.. 

Fat 

Water . . 


No.  1. 

No.  2. 

No.  3. 

3.96 

3.94 

4.19 

3.64 

4.81 

5.23 

.45 

.65 

.72 

3.30 

2.47 

4.39 

88.65 

88.13 

85.57 

4.82 

3.54 

.57 

2.71 


In  my  own  dairy  I  have  found  the  fat  in  the  milk  to 
vary  from  2.15  to  6.38  per  cent  in  different  cows.  The 
wide  variations  show  how  easily  a  dairyman  may  lose 


192 


THE    DAIBYMAIS-'S    MANUAL. 


money  by  keeping  inferior  cows  in  his  herd,  a  ad,  by  the 
neglect  of  testing  each  cow's  milk  separately,  cause  the 
good  ones  to  support  the  inferior  ones.  Moreover,  it  is 
by  no  means  the  handsomest  cow  or  the  largest  milker 
that  produces  the  most  butter.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  as 
showing  a  physiological  anomaly,  that  not  only  do  cows 
differ  in  this  respect,  but  that  the  different  glands  of  a 
cow  vary  in  the  quality  of  the  milk  yielded.  Thus  one 
quarter,  or  separate  gland,  of  the  udder  will,  in  the  same 
cow,  most  always  yield  milk  richer  in  fat  than  another. 
The  follow^ing  figures,  giyen  in  the  paper  of  Dr.  Sharp- 
less  above  referred  to,  show  this.  The  milk  was  drawn 
from  each  teat  separately,  and  separately  examined.  The 
cow  was  a  pure  x^yrshire. 


Per  cent  of 


Cream \  ^ 

Specific  gravity. 

Sugar. -- 

Caseine e... 

Ash 

Fat- 

Water 


PdgM 

Left 

Sight 

forward 

foricard 

rear 

teat. 

teat. 

teat. 

^. 

42. 

29. 

1      1.025 

1.024 

1.026 

'      4.09 

2.18 

3.44 

4.48 

6.58 

5.00 

.68 

.61 

.66 

5.59 

4.43 

4.39 

85.16 

86.20 

86.51 

Left 
rear 
teat. 

24.  ■ 
1.028 
4.20 
5.59 
.67 
3.84 

85.70 


To  afiSrm  these  unexpected  results  the   milk  of  an- 
other cow  was  examined  and  determined  as  follows  : 


Per  cent  of 

BlgM    1 
forward 
teat. 

Left 

forward 

teat. 

Bight 
rear 
teat. 

Left 
rear 
teat. 

Cream 

14. 
1.032 
4.90 
3.53 
.59 
3.32 

87.66 

11. 

1.C31 

5.0 

8.42 
.57 

3.0 
88.01 

13. 
1.030 
4.72 
3.61 
.61 
2.73 

88.33 

10. 

Specific  gi-ayity... 
Suf^ar 

1.031 
4.87  ■ 

Caseine 

3.48 

Ash  -- - 

.64 

Fat -- 

2.13 

"Water 

88.87 

The  coincidence  in  both  cases  as  regards  the  left  rear 
teat,  in  which  the  fat  product  was  nearly  fifty  per  cent 
less  than  that  of  the  right  forward  teat,  is  very  inter- 
esting.    While  this  is  not  a  really  practical  matter,  yet. 


MILK. 


193 


as  a  scientific  fact,  it  is  well  worthy  of  remark  here. 
To  prove  the  truth  of  the  well-founded  popular  impres- 
sion that  the  first  drawn  milk  is  poorer  in  fat  than  the 
last  drawn,  or  ^'the  strippings,"  Dr.  Sharpless  tested 
another  pure  Ayrshire  cow  with  the  following  result : 


Specific  gi-avity 

Cream 

Sugar 

Caseine  

Ash 

Fat 

Water 


First  third. 


1.029 

6  per  cent. 
4.49 
3.06 
.54 
1.78 
190.13 


Second  third. 


1.032 

9  per  cent. 
4.80 
4.25 
.58 
3.03 
87.34 


Last  third. 


1.027 
11      per  cent. 

4.50 

3.90 
.54 

4.03 
87.03 


Dr.  Sharpless'  conclusion,  after  making  a  large  number 
of  tests,  was  that  no  one  cow's  milk  is  as  uniform  in  com- 
position as  the  whole  milk  of  a  herd,  for  as  the  cows  will 
vary  either  way  a  general  average  of  remarkable  consist- 
ency is  procured.  This  will  no  doubt  accord  with  the 
general  experience  of  dairymen.  But  then  there  are 
some  cows,  especially  among  the  Jerseys — as  was  the  case 
with  the  selected  test  cow  Nellie,  referred  to  in  Chapter 
XII.,  and  which  was  chosen  for  her  uniformity  in  pro- 
duct— which  vary  little  in  the  quality  of  the  milk  under 
the  same  feeding  and  other  conditions. 

Milk  is  the  final  result  of  gestation  and  is  coincident 
with  parturition.  For  some  days  previous  to  calving, 
preparations  are  being  made  in  the  mammary  glands, 
which  is  commonly  called  the  udder,  for  the  secretion  of 
the  milk,  which  Nature  intends  as  a  provision  for  the 
support  of  the  calf.  This  preparation  of  the  glands 
consists  in  an  gedematous  tumefaction,  or  a  soft  pulpy 
swelling  by  which  the  udder  is  largely  increased  in  size. 
A  thin  serum  can  often  be  expressed  from  the  teats  during 
this  preparatory  period,  which  begins  from  a  month  to  two 
months  before  the  calf  is  born.  This  preparatory  period 
is  much  longer  with  a  heifer  with  its  first  calf,  and 
usually  begins  a  short  time  after  the  beginning  of  gesta- 


194  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

tioD.  After  the  first  calf,  a  considerable  falling  off  in 
the  milk,  and  a  stoppage  of  the  secretion,  accompany  the 
beginning  of  this  period  with  some  cows,  but  with  others 
the  milk  flow  continues  for  a  much  longer  time.  The 
character  of  the  milk,  however,  changes  considerably, 
and  the  salts  in  it  are  much  increased  in  quantity,  so 
much  so  as  to  considerably  affect  its  taste. 

^Vheh  the  calf  is  born  a  sudden  change  occurs  in  the 
milk  glands.  Tiiey  become  hard  and  tense,  and  very 
sensitive  from  the  large  accession  of  blood  which  they  re- 
ceive. The  formation  of  cell  matter  is  now  at  its  maxi- 
mum,- and  a  sudden  breaking  down  of  it  into  a  strongly 
albuminous  fluid  containinga  large  quantity  of  salts  takes 
place.  With  some  cows  this  is  accompanied  by  a  serious 
disturbance  of  the  nervous  system  and  active  febrile  con- 
ditions, which  produce  the  generally  fatal  disorder  known 
as  milk  fever.  This  disturbance  approaches  its  maxi- 
mum during  the  change  which  is  occurring  in  the  char- 
acter of  this  first  milk,  or,  as  it  is  called,  ^'colostrum," 
and  which  lasts  about  four  days.  In  fatal  cases  death 
occurs  on  the  third  or  fourth  dav  after  calvinof. 

The  colostrum  is  a  viscid,  yellowish,  sweetish  fluid, 
disagreeable  to  the  taste,  and  of  greater  density  than  ordi- 
nary milk,  having  a  specific  gravity  1.063.  It  coagulates 
on  heating,  and  on  this  account  is  often 
it^  ®T>  ^^^^^  ^^  England  for  making  custards, 
^j^  which   need   no  eggs   and   are   extremely 

^  ^  firm  and  of  a  hio^h  vellow  color,  inclinino^ 

^"     *  to  a  reddish  tinge.     Butter  made  from  it 

is  a  deep  reddish  orange  color  and  soft,  and  soon  becomes 
rancid.  The  fat  globules  of  colostrum  are  smaller  than 
those  in  ordinary  milk  and  are  fewer  in  number ;  but 
there  are  large  numbers  of  disc-shaped  corpuscles  (figure 
22,  a,  a)  generally  agglomerated  in  masses  in  a  tenacious 
viscid  matter,  some  having  nuclei  (figure  22,  J),  and 
among  these  are  to  be  observed  many  peculiar  bodies 


MILK. 


195 


called  * 'leucocytes,  "which  are  endowed  with  a  power  of 
motion.  The  composition  of  colostrum  is  given  by 
Boussingault  as  follows  : 

Water -'{'5-8 

Albumen  and  caseine - 1^-^ 

Fat.  — - .- 2.6 

Sugar - |-6 

Salts - -_3^ 

Total 100.0 

Dumas  gives  the  composition  of  colostrum  of  the  vari- 
ous animals  mentioned  as  below,  viz. : 


In  1,000  2)aWs. 

Cow. 

Ass. 

Goat 

Water 

80.33 
2.60 

15.07 
2.0 

82.84 
0.56 

11.60 
0.70 
4.30 

64.10 

Fat       

5.20 

Albumen               

24.5 

Mucus                   -  -  -  - 

3.0 

Sugar 

3.20 

Milk,  it  is  admitted  by  all  physiologists,  is  produced 
by  a  fatty  degeneration  of  the  epithelial  cells  of  the 
gland  follicles,  in  which  the  cells  are  very  greatly  multi- 
pUed  and  developed  during  lactation.  The  cells  rupture 
and  set  free  the  fat  globules.  This  theory  is  rendered 
liighly  probable  by  the  similarity  between  milk  and 
other  animal  products  of  the  glandular  follicles,  or  the 
breaking  down  of  cellular  tissue,  as  mucous  and  true  pus, 
the  composition  of  which  are  very  much  like  that  of  co- 
lostrum. Thus  pus  from  a  mammary  abscess  in  a  cow 
has  been  found  to  consist  of  the  following,  viz. : 

Water. -- - 87.94 

Fatty  matter - 2.65 

Albumen Ann 

Lactates  of  soda,  potassa,  lime  and  phosphates -  -  -  0.90 

Loss ----. - .-015 

100.00 

The  frequent  production  of  pus  in  the  cow's  udder, 
which  often  goes  under  the  name  of  ropy  milk,  is  a  very 
easy  transformation  of  the  products  of  the  gland  follicles 
due  to  disturbance  of  the  function  of  lactaUon.    In  co- 


196  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

lostrum  the  epithelial  cells  have  not  undergone  this  de- 
structive change,  the  walls  are  still  intact  and  contain 
their  oil  granules,  and  thus  constitute  the  corpuscles  of 
this  fluid.  In  the  colostrum  albumen  takes  the  place  of 
caseine  in  the  perfect  milk,  but  a  reverse  change  is 
slowly  made  and  completed  about  the  fourth  day.  At 
the  end  of  lactation,  when  the  animal  is  again  pregnant, 
the  milk  again  loses  its  caseine  and  gains  albumen,  and 
is  consequently  easily  coagulable  by  heat  and  causes 
many  serious  difliculties  in  the  dairy  Avhich  are  not  easily 
understood  by  the  dairyman  who  is  unfamiliar  with 
these  facts.  The  sugar  also  disappears  in  part  or  w^holly, 
and  the  leucocytes  increase  as  in  the  colostrum. 

About  the  fourth  or  fifth  day  after  parturition  the 
milk  becomes  normal  in  character  and  is  fitted  for  gen- 
eral use.  It  however  always  contains  more  or  less  al- 
bumen, and  this  is  a  common  source  of  trouble  in  the 

dairy,  especially  in  win- 
ter, when  heat  is  used  to 
effect  the  necessary  acid- 
ity or  ripening  of  the 
cream.  The  albumen  is 
thus  solidified  and  causes 
the  troublesome  white 
Fig.  23.  specks  in   the  butter. 

When  the  milk  glands  first  assume  their  tumefied  or 
swollen  condition,  just  previous  to  parturition,  the  lob- 
ules of  the  glands  become  filled  with  a  largely  increased 
number  of  cells  (figure  23,  h),  and  these  greatly  increase 
the  size  of  the  udder.  Previous  to  this  condition  the 
lobules  are  shrunken  (figure  23,  a)  and  the  formation 
and  constant  destruction  of  cells,  as  they  are  formed, 
are  occurring  continuously,  and  it  is  only  when  the 
udder  is  charged  and  filled  vrith  milk  that  it  is  distended. 
But  when  the  active  development  of  cells  is  in  progress, 
the  lobules  of  the  glands  are  enlarged  and  do  not  break 


MILK.  197 

down  immediately,  but  retaining  their  increased  size 
they  cause  the  udder  to  become  hard  and  much  extended 
in  size.  This  hardness  of  the  udder  is  often  supposed 
to  be  caused  by  some  disorder,  and  much  unnecessary 
trouble  is  often  borrowed  on  this  account.  When,  how- 
evei-,  the  process  of  lactation  is  under  way,  and  the 
glandular  follicles  begin  to  break  down  copiously  and 
the  secretion  of  milk  increases,  and  especially  when  the 
colustrum  period  has  passed,  the  udder  becomes  less 
hard  and  tense,  excepting  when  full  of  milk,  and  loose 
and  soft  as  soon  as  the  milk  is  drawn. 

The  udder  of  the  cow  consists  of  four  distinct  and 
separate  glands  commonly  called  quarters,  each  one  con- 
sisting of  a  mass  of  lobules,  among  which  are  a  large 
number  of  ducts  small  at  the  extremities,  but  gradually 
connecting  and  forming  large  ducts,  which  in  their  turn 
form  sinuses  or  reservoirs  in  which  the  milk  gathers  as  it 
is  secreted.  The  largest  of  these  reservoirs  is  immedi- 
ately above  the  base  of  the  teats.  The  teats  form  the 
outlets  for  the  principal  lactiferous  ducts  or  milk  chan- 
nels, and  these  connect  with  an  orifice  at  the  extremity 
of  the  teat  through  which  the  milk  is  drawn. 

In  structure  each  of  the  glands  of  the  udder  consist  of: 
first,  an  envelope  of  yellow  elastic  fibrous  tissue  ;  second, 
the  glandular  tissue  formed  into  lobules  ;  third,  the  lac- 
tiferous ducts  or  milk  channels  ;  fourth,  the  milk  reser- 
voirs or  the  sinuses  ;  and  fifth,  the  excretory  canal  or 
orifice  of  the  teat. 

The  elastic  envelope  is  extremely  strong  and  is  formed 
of  wide  bands  detached  from  the  abdominal  muscles ;  it 
has  numerous  prolongations  which  cross  each  other  in 
the  mass  of  glandular  tissue,  forming  partitions  which 
divide  this  into  lobes  and  lobules,  which  are  thus  some- 
what independent  of  each,  other,  and  are  firmly  sup- 
ported without  pressing  upon  each  other.  This  sepa- 
ration and  partial  isolation  of  these  parts  of  the  udder 


198 

are  such  that  one  or  more  of  the  parts  may  become  dis- 
eased or  deranged  in  function  without  involving  the 
other  parts.  Thus  oiie  or  more  of  the  lobules  may  for 
some  cause  or  otlier  become  deranged,  and  secrete  blood 
from  the  numerous  capillary  vessels  which  pass  through 
it  and  form  the  connecting  links  between  the  arterial 
and  venous  circulation  ;  or  the  cellular  tissue  may  break 
down  into  albuminous  serum  or  pus,  which  being  dis- 
charged w^ith  the  milk  causes  it  to  become  ropy  or  forms 
adherent  strings  which  are  ejected  with  the  milk  ;  at  the 
same  time  all  the  other  parts  of  the  gland  may  be  acting 
normally. 

The  glandular  tissue  consists  of  vesicles  clustered  like 
grapes  on  a  stalk  around  the  finest  lactiferous  tubes  or 
smaller  ducts,  which  are  the  ultimate  terminations  of  the 
lactiferous  ducts.  Each  of  these  tubes  forms  a  cul-de-sac 
or  a  channel  closed  at  one  end,  which  opens  into  others 
to  form  enlarged  tubes  which  converge  together,  and 
so  on  to  form  the  lactiferous  ducts.  The  vesicles  {acini) 
of  the  lobules  as  well  as  the  tubes  are  lined  with  epithe- 
lium or  membranous  tissue,  which  become  infiltrated 
with  fat  during  lactation  (figure  23,  h). 

The  lactiferous  ducts  are  at  first  exceedingly  numerous 
but  gradually  converging,  like  the  branches  of  a  tree, 
unite  to  form  larger  channels  which  flow  into  the  sinuses 
or  milk  reservoirs. 

The  sinuses  or  reservoirs  are  situated  just  above  the 
base  of  the  teat,  and  are  usually  two  in  number,  one  in 
front  and  one  behind,  but  sometimes  in  cows  with  highly 
developed  udder  and  milking  capacity  there  are  three  or 
four.  They  communicate  with  each  other  and  are  pro- 
longed into  the  teat  by  separate  and  distinct  excretory 
terminal  canals  whose  orifices  are  quite  small  and  gather 
at  the  end  of  the  teat  forming  an  outlet  (figure  24). 

The  excretory  canals  are  larger  at  the  upper  part  than 
at  the  extremity;   the  orifices  are  usually  behind  on« 


MILK. 


199 


anofher  and  about  a  tenth  of  an  inch  apart.     They  are 
lined  with  a  fine  and  highly  sensitive  membrane  which  is 
continuous  with  the  skin.     The  teat  varies  in  form  with 
use  and  is  subject  to  considerable  alteration  by  manipu- 
lation ;  it  is  composed  of  longitudinal  fibers  which  at  the 
[end  are  capable  of  a  sort  of  erection  under  the  influence 
of  stimulus,  and  thus  act  as  a  sphincter  to  close  the  ori- 
fice and  prevent  the  constant  and  passive  flow  of  milk. 
The  udder  (or  udders,  there  being  really  four  of  them 
in  the  cow)  is  made  up,  in  addition  to  the  organs  de- 
scribed  above,  of   connective  tissue,  arteries,  veins,  ca- 
pillary vessels,   nerves   and  absoi'beots.     It  is  supplied 
with  blood  by  the  external 
pudic  artery  and   requires 
two  sets  of  veins  to  com- 
plete  the   circulation,  one 
deep,  which  follows  the  ar- 
teries, and  one  superficial, 
which  converges   into  the 
great  abdominal  vein  which 
passes  from  the  udder  near 
the  skin  and  enters  the  ab- 
domen behind  the  umbilli- 
cal  region.    This  large  vein 
is  commonly  called  the  milk 

vein.and  is  rightly  supposed  i 

to  indicate  by  its  prominence  the  larger  milking  capacity 
of  the  cow. 

When  gestation  is  not  going  on  the  above  described 
glandular  culs-des-sacs  and  tissue  connected  with  them 
are  shrunken  and  contracted  (figure  23,  a),  the  lining 
membrane  is  shriveled  and  folded  upon  itself  and  cov- 
ered only  by  contracted  epithelium.  When  gestation  has 
progressed  to  a  certain  stage  the  vesicles  are  enlarged 
and  new  ones  are  developed,  the  epithelium  expands,  be- 
comes globular  in  shape,  and  is  charged  with  fat  granules, 


200  THE 

tilling  the  vesicles  ;  thus  the  entire  gland  becomes  en- 
larged in  size  (figure  23,  h)  and  firm  to  the  touch,  and 
as  parturition  approaches  this  increased  size  and  firmness 
are  intensified,  until  delivery  takes  place,  when  the  vesi- 
cles break  down,  the  albuminous  serum  with  the  fat 
globules  escape,  gather  into  tlie  lactiferous  tubes,  and 
collect  in  the  sinuses  or  reservoirs.  This  process  goes  on 
more  or  less  actively  in  proportion  to  the  natural  ability 
and  the  liberal  nutrition  of  the  cow  to  supply  the  mate- 
rials for  the  enormous  loss  of  tissue. 

Milk  is  easily  analyzed  and  its  constituents  separated, 
and  every  dairyman  should  be  able  to  perform  this  oper- 
ation for  himself.  The  separation  of  the  fat  is  the  mat- 
ter of  greatest  moment,  although  it  is  quite  as  ofteii 
desirable  to  know"  the  quantity  of  caseine  contained  in  it. 
It  is  necessary  to  procure  a  pair  of  delicate  scales  with 
weights  and  measures  of  the  metric  or  decimal  system, 
grams  for  weighing,  and  a  one  hundred  centimeter  rule 
for  measuring.  One  hundred  cubic  centimeters  of  the 
milk  at  sixty  degrees  of  temperature  are  measured  and 
weighed,  and  the  weights  noted ;  this  milk  is  set  apart 
for  the  cream.  Five  centimeters  are  then  weighed,  evap- 
orated to  dryness,  and  w^eighed  again  ;  the  difference  is 
the  water  and  the  weight  the  total  solids.  The  fat  is  then 
dissolved  out  by  benzine  and  the  loss  after  the  benzine 
has  been  wholly  evaporated  is  the  quantity  of  fats.  There 
are  then  left  the  caseine,  sugar  and  salts.  The  residue 
left  by  the  benzine  is  weighed  and  is  then  burned  com- 
pletely. The  last  result,  the  ash,  is  then  weighed.  The 
caseine  and  sugar  are  then  to  be  determined.  Twenty- 
five  centimeters  of  the  skimmed  milk  are  curdled  by  the 
addition  of  acetic  acid,  and  the  curd  separated,  dried  and 
weighed.  The  whey  may  be  then  evaporated,  washed 
in  benzine,  and  then  weighed  and  burned  ;  the  loss  is  the 
sugar.  In  this  way  every  constituent  may  be  easily  calcu- 
lated.   But  the  character  of  milk  is  as  yet  far  from  having 


MILK.  201 

been  fully  explained,  for  when  the  summer  heats  produce 
a  most  active  chemical  action  in  all.  organic  matter, 
this  unstable  substance,  milk,  becomes  very  troublesome 
to  the  dairyman.  Milk  consists  of  a  solution  of  caseine 
in  a  sweet  liquid,  which  is  somewhat  alkaline.  The  av- 
erage four  per  cent  of  sugar  and  the  four  per  cent  of 
caseine  are  both  held  in  solution  in  the  milk,  wliich  also 
contains  a  sufficient  quantity  of  free  soda  to  make  it  dis- 
tinctly alkaline.  This  free  soda  enables  the  caseine  to 
remain  in  solution,  and  when  it  is  taken  up  by  any  acid 
in  the  milk,  and  rendered  inert,  or  neutral,  the  caseine 
is  at  once  precipitated,  and  the  milk  curdles,  because  of 
this  precipitation  or  separation  of  the  caseine.  The  min- 
-eral  matter  of  milk  consists  of  the  following  substances  : 

m  1,000  POUNDS  OF  MILK  THERE  ARE  OF 

li>2C7ids.    Pounds. 

Phosphate  of  lime -2.31  to  3.41 

Phosphate  of  magnesia 43  to      .G-i 

Phosphate  of  oxide  of  iron ....07  to      .07 

Chloride  of  potassium .1.44  to  1.83 

Chloride  of  sodium 24  to      .34 

Free  soda 43  to      .45 

Total.-.. 490    to    6.77 

All  this  matter  is  neutral  or  chemically  inert  or  inac- 
tive excepting  the  free  soda,  which  is  at  all  times  ready 
and  eager  to  combine  with  any  acid  which  may  exist  in 
the  milk. 

Sugar  is  a  very  unstable  substance,  and  is  liable  to  change 
under  very  little  persuasion.  A  saccharine  solution  very 
easily  oxidizes  and  changes  to  acid  at  the  expense  of  the 
carbon  which  is  combined  with  the  oxygen,  and  produces 
carbonic  acid,  which  escapes,  leaving  an  acid  liquid  in- 
stead of  a  sweet  one.  Really,  the  sugars  and  some  acids 
derived  from  them  are  compounds  of  carbon  and  water. 
Thus  common  sugar  consists  of  twelve  atoms  of  carbon 
and  eleven  atoms  of  water,  and  milk  sugar  of  twelve 
atoms  of  carbon  and  twelve  of  water,  while  acetic  acid, 
made  by  the  fermentation  of  cane  sugar,  consists  of  two 


•202 

atoms  of  carbon  and  two  of  water,  and  lactic  acid,  made 

by  the  fermentation  of  milk,  is  composed  of  three  atoms 

of  carbon  and  three  of  water.     To  put  these  in  a  table 

will  show  the  character  of  these  substances  more  clearly, 

thus  : 

One  atom  of  cane  sugar  consists  of  CioHaoOu. 
One  atom  of  milk  sugar  consists  of  Ci2H240i.2. 
Six  atoms  of  acetic  acid  consists  of  C,2H540i2. 
Four  atoms  of  lactic  acid  consists  of  C12H24O10. 
One  atom  of  water  consists  of  HaO. 

Thus  chemically  the  addition  of  one  atom  of  water  to 
cane  sugar  changes  it  to  milk  sugar,  which  is  much  less 
sweet  than  cane  sugar,  and  by  breaking  up  one  atom  of 
milk  sugar  into  six  parts  the  result  is  acetic  acid  or  Yin- 
egar,  and  by  breaking  it  up  into  four  parts  lactic  acid  is 
produced. 

The  last-mentioned  fact  is  of  the  most  interest  to  us 
in  the  present  consideration,  for  it  shows  how  very 
easily  milk  is  changed  from  an  alkaline  to  an  acid  condi- 
tion and  how  the  difficulties  inherent  to  his  business 
are  precipitated  upon  the  dairyman. 

When  by  reason  of  some  controlling  influence,  it  may 
be  the  heat  of  the  weather,  the  condition  of  the  atmos- 
phere produced  by  heat,  the  condition  of  the  cows 
caused  by  food,  heat,  or  any  other  accident,  there  occurs 
a  chemical  breaking  up  or  separation  of  the  atoms 
of  the  sugar  in  the  milk,  lactic  acid  is  produced. 
This  acid  is  neutralized  by  the  free  soda  as  fast  as  it  is 
produced,  and  lactate  of  soda  is  formed  until  the  soda  is 
all  taken  up,  when  the  acid  accumulates  in  the  milk,  and 
then  serious  difficulties  arise.  But  just  here  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  notice  that  this  same  acid  (lactic)  is  pro- 
duced in  various  substances  which  are  fed  to  cows,  and 
very  freely  in  the  warm  weather.  The  acid  of  sauer- 
kraut or  cabbage  is  lactic  ;  it  is  also  formed  in  the  fer- 
mentation of  moist  corn-meal,  cotton-seed  meal,  bran, 
middlings  and  oatmeal,  and  of  green  clover,  grass,  wet 
straw  and  hay,  and  other  vegetable  matters  which  are 


MILK.  203 

fed  to  cows.  And  this  acid  may  very  easily  be  taken 
into  the  system  of  the  cow  and  directly  atfect  the  con- 
dition of  the  milk,  causing  it  to  be  distinctly  acid  in- 
stead of  alkaline,  as  it  should  be  naturally.  Moreover, 
as  this  acid  may  be  very  easily,  and  is  no  doubt  often, 
produced  in  the  course  of  the  digestion  of  the  food  in  the 
cow's  stomach,  it  is  readily  seen  how  most  unexpected 
difficulties  may  arise  in  the  dairy  in  the  summer  to  vex 
and  discomfit  the  dairyman. 

Acid  is  the  most  treacherous  and  effective  agent  of 
change  in  milk,  cream,  and  butter.  It  should  be 
watched  for  at  every  turn  and  neutralized  by  every  pos- 
sible means.  The  addition  to  the  milk  of  a  small  quan- 
tity of  soda  will  take  up  the  acid  as  fast  as  it  is  formed, 
and  will  remain  as  lactate  of  soda  in  the  milk  in  an  inert 
and  harmless  condition  ;  but  to  avoid  the  presence  of 
this  acid  the  food  and  every  utensil  used  in  the  stable, 
feeding  jDrocess,  and  in  the  care  of  the  milk  should  be 
kept  most  rigidly  free  from  acidity. 

But  another  fact  still  remains  to  illustrate  the  excess- 
ive instability  of  milk.  Caseine,  of  which  about  four  per 
cent  is  dissolved  in  the  milk,  is  itself  able  to  change  milk 
sugar  into  this  milk  (lactic)  acid.  Many  nitrogenous 
substances  possess  this  peculiar  power.  Gluten  of  wheat, 
animal  membranes,  as  a  piece  of  bladder  or  of  the  gut  or 
stomach  of  an  animal,  as  well  as  the  legumin  of  peas 
and  beans  and  the  caseine  of  milk,  exert  this  effect. 
Some  time  or  enabling  effect,  however,  is  required  to  de- 
velop this  property  in  caseine,  and  exposure  to  air  and 
warmth  for  a  certain  period  are  sufficient  to  develop  it. 

And  upon  this  fact  another  most  important  one  bears, 
viz.,  that  caseine  in  this  active  condition  has  the  effect 
of  changing  milk  sugar  first  into  lactic  acid,  and  then  the 
lactic  acid  into  butyric  acid,  which  is  the  active  agent  of 
rancidity  in  butter,  and  is  the  cause  of  the  greatest"  diffi- 
culties wJiich  the   dairyman   meets  with   in   the  warm 


204 

season.  This  acid  is  also  produced  by  the  direct  action 
of  caseine  upon  the  fats  of  the  butter  themselves,  chang- 
ing the  harder  fats  into  the  more  oily  ones,  and  thus 
causing  the  butter  to  be  soft  and  of  inferior  quality.  The 
oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  has  also  the  same  result. 
These  facts  show  how  necessary  it  is  to  preserve  the  ut- 
most freedom  from  any  remains  of  stale  milk  or  cream 
upon  the  utensils,  to  preserve  the  milk  from  excess 
of  heat  and  from  currents  of  air,  as  well  as  from  the  en- 
trance of  any  injurious  matter  into  the  cow. 

Milk  is  thus  a  serous  or  albuminous  fluid,  in  which 
a  varying  quantity  of  sugar,  caseine,  and  mineral  salts 
are  dissolved  and  in  which  a  varying  quantity  of  fat  or 
oil  in  the  form  of  very  minute  globules  are  mechanically 
suspended  in  the  manner  of  an  emulsion  (figure  25,  d). 
.*,.  The   sugar,  caseine   and   fat   are   each  of 

fi'^/ol'^**  Tj  them  the  basis  of  a  profitable  manufacture; 
•♦•/^*«*  the  sugar  is  separated  and  used  in  various 

ways  as  milk  sugar ;  the  caseine  and  fat 

-!{5^^  are  made  into  cheese,  and  the  fat  is  gath- 

^M^  ^  ered  and  made  into  butter.     When  left  at 

'  "  rest  for  a  time  the  fatty  globules  rise  to 

Fig.  25.  ^^Q  surface,  together  with   some  of    ad- 

herent milk,  by  virtue  of  their  lighter  specific  grav- 
ity, and  controlled  as  to  time  by  various  conditions 
of  the  milk  and  the  temperature,  they  form  what 
we  know  as  cream  (figure  25,  e).  These  fat  glob- 
ules were  supposed  to  consist  of  a  pellicle  or  film  of 
caseine  enclosing  a  granule  of  fat,  as  it  is  set  free 
by  the  breaking  down  of  the  vesicles  or  acini  of  the 
glandular  lobules  of  the  udder.  This  supposition 
was  held  to  be  unreasonable  and  erroneous  by  the  au- 
thor, who  opposed  this  view  of  it  as  supported  by 
Professor  Arnold,  the  eminent  authority  upon  the 
science  and  practice  of  dairying,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
American  Dairymen's  Association  in  1872.     Since  then 


MILK.  205 

the  inherent  simplicity  of  the  fat  globule  floating  free  in 
the  milk  as  an  emulsion,  and  without  any  coating  or 
pellicle  whatever,  has  been  demonstrated  by  patient  and 
painstaking  investigation,  microscopical  and  chemical, 
by  the  author,  and  by  others,  notably  by  the  Xew  York 
State  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  and  this  view  of 
it  is  now  accepted  by  all  American  dairy  experts.  This 
true  and  reasonable  view  greatly  simplifies  the  manage- 
ment of  milk  and  the  churning  of  cream,  and  clears  up 
some  difficulties  and  mistakes  in  regard  to  the  behavior 
of  cream  in  the  churn. 

The  peculiar  character  of  milk,  being  a  direct  product 
of  the  cellular  substance  and  fat  in  the   animal,  gives 
much  importance  to  the  consideration  of  its  uses  as  food, 
and  of  the  proper  treatment  of  the  cow.     Any  disorder 
arising  from  bad  food  or  water,  or  disease,  directly  affects 
the  quality  of  the  milk.     This  is  conspicuously  shown  by 
the  prevalent  disease,  so  frequently  fatal,  known  as  milk 
sickness,  which  is  induced  in  persons  by  the  use  of  milk, 
cheese  or  butter  from  cows  which   have   been   exposed 
to  the  peculiar  infection  which  produces  this  disorder. 
The  common  disease  known  as  'Naphtha,"  or  "foot  and 
mouth"   disease,   is   communicated   to   persons  by  the 
milk  of  cows  suffering  from  it;  so  is  tuberculosis,  an-, 
thrax,  and  other  diseases  of  the  blood.     Milk  even  ab- 
sorbs the  germs  of  febrile  diseases  which  are  prevalent 
near  the  dairy,  or  to  the  infection  of  which  it  has  been 
exposed;    scarlet   fever   and   typhoid   fever   have    thus 
been  spread  widely  through  localities  by  the  use  of  milk 
from  a  farm  upon  which  cases  of   these   diseases   have 
occurred.     This  characteristic  of  milk  is  serious  and  so 
prevailing   that    the   greatest   caution  in   respect   of  it 
should  be  observed,  both  by  dairymen  and  those  persons 
who  purchase  milk. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  renders  it  desirable  here 
to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  common  use  of  the 


206  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

lactometer  for  testing  the  quality  of  milk.  The  use  of 
the  lactometer,  or  rather  the  hydrometer  or  water  meas- 
ure, for  testing  millv  is  a  dekision  and  a  snare.  This  in- 
strument is  constructed  for  measuring  the  relative  spe- 
'  cific  gravity  of  liquids,  pure  or  distilled  water,  water  at  a 
temperature  of  sixty  degrees  being  taken  as  the  standard. 
The  so-called  lactometer  or  milk  measure  is  in  its  very 
name  a  fraud  and  a  delusion,  because  it  does  not  in 
reality  measure  milk,  but  merely  the  water  in  it  and  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  fluid  which  shows  the  quantity  of 
solids  in  solution  or  suspension  in  it.  Milk  is  a  complex 
fluid  containing  a  certain  proportion  of  water,  mixed 
with  an  uncertain  proportion  of  various  salts,  some  case- 
ine  and  some  sugar  which  are  heavier  than  water,  and 
some  fat  and  volatile  oils  which  are  lighter  than  water. 
Now,  it  is  an  utter  impossibility  for  any  measurer  of 
specific  gravity  to  ascertain  what  the  true  relative  gravity 
or  weight  of  a  liquid  should  be  when  it  contains  every 
time  a  different  quantity  or  proportion  of  each  one  of 
these  added  substances  and  each  one  differing  somewhat 
in  its  own  specific  gravity.  For  instance,  we  take  the 
milk  of  a  poor  cow,  that  will  not  show  more  than  three 
or  four  per  cent  of  cream,  and  ^'  measure"  it — as  the  term 
''lactometer"  really  means — and  find  that  this  instrument 
marks  1.030,  which  is  considered  to  indicate  an  excellent 
quality  of  milk,  and  this  because  the  milk  contains  the 
normal  amount  of  other  solids  besides  fat,  and  these  are 
all  heavier  or  of  a  greater  specific  gravity  than  the  fat. 
Hence  this  poor  milk  would  pass  muster  with  the  inspec- 
tor. But  if  we  take  the  milk  of  a  Jersey  or  Guernsey  cow 
with  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent  of  cream  in  it,  and  sub- 
ject it  to  the  lactometer,  it  may  mark  only  1.038,  and  it 
is  an  understood  rule  with  milk  inspectors  that  milk  of 
so  low  a  specific  gravity  as  1.028  is  suspicious  and  sub- 
jects the  seller  to  the  pains  and  penalties  of  arrest,  and, 
on  conviction,  fine  and  disgrace.     A  painful  case  occurred 


CREAM.  207 

in  the  author's  experience.  A  milk  seller,  misled  by  the 
popularity  of  Jersey  cows,  purchased  some  for  use  in  his 
dairy,  which  was  kept  to  supply  milk  for  consumers  in 
a  large  town.  An  inspector  one  day  demanded  a  test  of 
his  milk  and  on  finding  it  to  mark  only  1.028  he  arrested 
the  milkman  and  led  him  to  the  magistrate.  The  author 
was  summoned  to  give  testimony  in  regard  to  the  quality 
of  the  milk  and  proved  by  actual  test  that  some  of  it 
contained  16'/,  per  cent  of  cream,  and  that  the  mixture 
of  this  rich  milk  with  the  other  milk  reduced  the  gi-avity 
of  the  whole  to  this  low  average  ;  but  that  the  milk  was 
actually  richer  than  other  kinds  of  a  higher  gravity. 
The  court  adjudged  that  the  milk  was  not  up  to  stand- 
ard, as  the  inspector — a  very  ignorant  man — swore  that 
the  lactometer  was  a  reliable  test  of  the  quality.  The 
justice  (?),  no  better  informed,  convicted  the  innocent 
man,  who  was  so  affected  by  the  injustice  and  the  im- 
puted crime,  and  the  disgrace  of  it,  that  he  gave  up  his 
iDusiness  and  in  a  few  days  after  committed  suicide. 
This  is  but  one  of  several  cases  known  to  the  author  of 
convictions  by  the  evidence  of  this  unworthy,  fraudulent, 
and  false  test  and  witness.  The  only  reliable  test  of 
milk  is  a  chemical  analysis  or  such  an  examination  as 
has  been  previously  described. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CREAM. 

Cream  is  the  fatty  portion  of  the  milk,  which  rises  to 
the  top  when  the  milk  stands  at  rest.  The  difference  in 
the  specific  gravity  of  cream  and  milk  necessarily  causes 
this  separation  ;  indeed  fo  some  extent  this  separation  is 
partially  made  in  the  reservoirs  of  the  udder,  for  it  is  a 
well  established  fact  that  the  first  drawn  milk  is  less 


208  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

rich  in  cream,  or  fat,  than  that  dra\vn  at  the  end  of  the 
milking.  This  has  been  shown  in  the  previous  chapter. 
The  specific  gravity  of  cream  is  about  1.020,  that  of 
milk  with  the  cream  about  1.030,  that  of  milk  without 
the  cream  1.035,  so  that  the  difference  in  weight  of  an 
equal  bulk  of  cream  and  milk  is  one  and  one-half  per  -. 
cent.  This  is  sufficient  to  cause  a  very  rapid  rising  or 
floating  of  the  cream,  were  it  not  for  some  obstacles 
which  prevent  this  separation.  Milk  is  a  viscous  or 
adherent  fluid,  and  consequently  any  lighter  body  im- 
mersed in  it  would  have  to  resist  this  adhesive  force  in 
the  act  of  rising  to  the  surface.  Again,  the  globules  of 
fat  in  milk  are  extremely  small,  varying  in  size  from 
y45no  ^0  V2500  P^^'*^  0^  ^^  ^^^^^  i^  diameter,  hence  the  force 
of  gravity  is  very  slight  and  is  not  sufficient  to  force 
them  through  an  adhesive  fluid  except  quite  slowly. 

The  cream  rises  more  rapidly  under  certain  circum- 
stances, as  when  the  milk  is  set  in  deep  pails  in  cold 
water  at  a  temperature  of  forty-five  degrees,  when  all  the 
cream  is  raised  through  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  of 
milk  in  twelve  hours  ;  while  at  sixty  degrees  it  will 
require  thirty-six  hours  to  rise  completely  through  three 
inches  of  milk  set  in  shallow  pans.  Also  w^hen  the  milk 
is  diluted  with  water  the  cream  rises  more  quickly, 
because  the  milk  becomes  less  adherent.  The  lovr 
temperature  of  forty-five  degrees  reduces  the  milk  to 
almost  its  maximum  density,  which  is  at  thirty-nine 
degrees,  heace  the  cream  is  comparatively  lighter  than 
at  a  higher  temperature.  This  fact  is  taken  advantage 
of  in  the  use  of  the  deep  pails  and  low  temperature  for 
setting  milk  for  cream,  an  innovation  which  has  been  of 
the  greatest  value  in  butter-making.  The  cream  raised 
in  this  manner  is,  however,  n^ore  fluid  and  has  more 
milk  mixed  with  it  than  that  raised  in  shallow  pans  ; 
hut  this  is  also  an  advantage,  because  it  is  then  in  the 
best  condition  in  respect  of  fluidity  for  the  churn. 


CREAM.  209 

Cream  is  simply  the  butter  globules  of  the  milk 
gathered  into  adherent  masses  (figure  52,  Chapter  XX.), 
togetlier  with  a  small  quantity  of  the  milk  held  by  mo- 
lecular attraction  among  and  between  the  fat  globules. 
Milk  consists  really  of  a  colorless  liquid  in  which  are 
suspended  an  enormous  number  of  minute  globules.  As 
has  been  stated  in  the  previous  chapter,  some  erroneous 
views  have  been  held  in  regard  to  the  character  of  these 
globules  wliich  constitute  the  fatty  portion  of  the  milk, 
and  some  discussion  is  still  made  by  misinformed  per- 
sons in  support  of  the  now  exploded  theory,  that  these 
globules  are  enclosed  in  a  thin  membrane  of  albuminous 
matter.  It  may  be  interesting  to  readers  to  know  by 
what  experiments  the  true  nature  of  these  globules  may 
be  demonstrated. 

As  milk  is  a  serous  viscous  fluid,  and  adherent  and 
adhesive,  when  air  is  forced  into  it  it  forms  and  pro- 
duces a  cohesive  froth,  consisting  of  small  and  large 
air  bubbles.  This  is  precisely  the  character  of  beer,  or 
a  solution  of  soap,  gum,  syrup,  or  any  other  mucilaginous 
or  saccharine  fluid.  If  a  quantity  of  any  of  these  fluids 
is  warmed  to  the  temperature  of  new  milk,  or  100°,  and  a 
small  quantity  of  butter  oil  is  added  and  thoroughly 
mixed  with  it,  and  the  mixture  is  agitated,  the  oil  soon 
separates  into  small  globules,  which,  when  viewed  under 
a  microscope,  appear  in  every  respect  precisely  similar  to 
the  butter  globules  in  milk.  This  mixture  is  known  as 
an  emulsion,  and  similar  mixtures  are  commonly  used  in 
medicine  for  the  purpose  of  administering  oils  in  a  con- 
venient and  desirable  form. 

When  such  an  emulsion  is  permitted  to  remain  at  rest 
tlie  globules  rise  to  the  surface  slowly  and  form  a  cream. 
The  appearance  of  these  globules  under, the  microscope 
gives  precisely  the  refractive  rings  around  them  which 
have  been  supposed  by  inexpert  observers  to  be  surround- 


210  THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 

ing  films,  pellicles,  coverings,  -or  enyelopes  of  caseous 
matter,  enclosing  the  fat. 

When  these  emulsions  are  churned  at  a  temperature  at 
which  the  fat  is  soft  and  n on- adherent,  the  globules  are 
beaten  finer  and  finer  as  with  cream  in  the  churn  under 
those  conditions — to  be  explained  hereafter — in  which 
the  butter  will  not  come.  When  churned  at  the  ordi- 
nary temperature  of  the  dairy,  the  fat  globules  are 
gradually  gathered  into  granules,  then  into  small  masses 
or  grains,  and  finally  form  butter. 

These  results  happen  alike  with  milk  and  with  arti- 
ficial emulsions,  of  which  the  author  has  experimented 
with  several  kinds,  viz.,  made  with  butter,  oleomarga- 
rine, lard,  cotton-seed  oil  and  olive  oil,  and  the  behavior 
of  each  was  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  otliers. 
Moreover,  the  most  patient  and  careful  tests  and  exami- 
nations have  all  utterly  failed  to  discover  one  of  these 
envelopes,  pellicles,  shells,  or  whatever  name  has  been 
given  to  the  imaginary  substance,  isolated  and  separated 
from  the  globules. 

The  number  of  these  globules  contained  in  milk  of 
average  richness  in  butter  is  enormous,  and  they  differ  in 
this  respect  considerably  with  various  cows,  and  as  much 
in  the  size  of  the  globules.  Moreover,  they  differ  in  the 
same  cow  as  regards  size  and  number  when  any  disturb- 
ing influence  occurs  to  affect,  the  nervous  condition  of 
the  cow,  or  to  excite  or  to  tranquilize  her.  Thus  in  a 
cubic  millimeter,  or  about  the  one-hundredth  part  of  a 
quart,  there  are  nearly  3,000,000  of  these  globules,  thus 
giving  about  300,000,000  of  them  in  a  quart  of  milk, 
or  5,000,000  in  every  cubic  inch. 

Cream  varies  greatly  in  character,  and  this  variation 
has  a  most  important  bearing  upon  the  business  of  a 
creamery,  in  which,  necessarily,  there  are  many  kinds  of 
cream  gathered  from  the  large  number  of  patrons.  The 
following    analyses    of    creams    gathered   by   Professor 


OREAM. 


211 


Wanklyn  from  different  cows  show  a  most  remarkable 
and  important  variation. 


Rr  Cent  of 

Water. 

Sugar,  Ash, 

and  Caseine 

8.80 

14.70 

14.77 

6.81 

8.21 

5.63 

Fat. 

72.20 
71.20 
66.36 
60.17 
53  62 
50.00 

19.0 

Sample  2 

14.1 

Sample  3 

18.87 

Sample  4 

23.03 

Sample  5 

38.17 

Sample  6 

43.91 

The  result  of  such  a  difference  as  this,  and  it  is  by  no 
means  an  uncommon  occurrence,  is  of  the  highest  interest 
to  dairymen  selling  cream  to  the  creameries  by  the  inch 
or  quart.  For  if  one  inch  of  No.  2  gives  a  pound  of 
butter  an  inch  of  No.  4  would  give  two  to  five  ounces, 
and  an  inch  of  Xo.  6  would  give  over  three  pounds.  If 
No.  6  gives  a  pound  of  butter  per  inch,  No.  2  would  give 
less  than  six  ounces.  Either  the  patron  would  lose  or 
gain  as  his  cream  might  be  richer  or  poorer,  and  the 
creamery  would  be  subject  to  the  same  risk  in  an 
inverse  ratio.  In  any  case  there  would  be  great  loss 
and  injustice  to  some  persons  concerned.  This  uncer- 
tainty is  to  some  extent  avoided  by  the  use  of  what 
is  known  as  the  '^oil  test,"  to  be  explained  hereafter 
(Chapter  XIX). 

jThe  methods  of  separating  the  cream  from  the  milk 
fare   three   in   number,  viz.,  the   deep   pail   system,  the 
•  shallow  pan  system,  and  the  centrifugal  creamer.     The 
\deep  pail  system  is  derived  from  the  method  which  has 
been  common  in  Sweden  for  many  years,  and  which  is 
/there  known  as  the  Schwartz  method.     It  is  based  on 
the  fact  that  the  rapid  cooling  of  the  milk  to  a  low  tem- 
iperature  and  the  maintenance  of  this  temperature  causes 
Ithe  entire  separation  of  the  cream  in  a  few  hours;  the 
lower  the  temperature  the  more  rapid  being  the  sepa- 
ration.    There   are   several   kinds  of  apparatus  in   use 
adapted  for  this  system  which  will  be  described  more 
(fully  in  a  succeeding  chapter.     The  use  of  water  from  a 


212  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

permanently  cold  spring  or  of  ice  is  necessary  under  this 
system.  The  use  of  this  method  of  raising  cream  is 
rapidly  extending  and  is  indispensable  in  the  manage- 
ment of  a  public  creamery. 

The  shallow  pan  system  is  the  most  used,  and  is  practi- 
cally universal  in  private  farm  dairies;  it  has  the  advan- 
tages of  convenience  and  simplicity,  and  under  the  best 
conditions  of  practice  is  quite  as  effective  in  every  way  as 
the  deep  pail  system.  No  water  or  cooling  is  required, 
but  some  method  of  heating  is  desirable  in  the  winter. 
An  airy,  dry,  deep  cellar  with  thick  walls,  and  well-con- 
structed, as  hereafter  explained,  famishes  every  desirable 
or  requisite  condition  for  raising  the  cream  under  this 
simple  system. 

The  centrifuge  is  a  comparatively  new  introduction  in 
the  busmess  of  dairying,  but  its  value  and  adaptation  for 
the  economical  and  effective  working  of  dairies  large  or 
small  are  boundless.  This  useful  machine  operates  on 
the  principle  that  centrifugal  force  in  a  confined  vessel, 
properly  constructed,  will  throw  the  denser  and  heavier 
particles  of  a  fluid  to  the  outer  circumference,  and  thus 
compel  the  lighter  particles  to  seek  the  center.  It  is 
really  the  adaptation  of  the  principle  of  gravity  to  a 
horizontal  position,  compelling  the  lighter  particles  to 
rise  to  the  top  and  the  heavier  ones  to  sink  to  the 
bottom,  so  to  speak,  by  the  exercise  of  this  force  exerted 
horizontally  instead  of  perpendicularly.  Like  all  other 
operations  of  natural  dynamic  laws  it  is  exceedingly 
simple — when  it  is  understood. 

In  considering  the  nature  of  cream  the  cause  of  its 
varying  yellow  color  is  worthy  of  some  thought.  Why  is 
cream  yellow,  and  more  deeply  yellow  in  some  cows  than 
in  others?  The  author  has  given  much  study  to  this  in- 
teresting question,  and  with  the  following  result.  Yellow 
is  a  diluted  red,  or  at  least  red  is  a  concentrated  yellow^ 
Yellow  pigments,  when  concentrated,  always  appear  to 


MILKIKG   AKD   MILKING   APPARATUS.  213 

be  red.  Annatto  in  its  solid  state  is  red,  but  its  weak 
solution  is  yellow;  the  common  gamboge  is  another  in- 
stance of  this.  All  butter-coloring  preparations,  whether 
prepared  from  annatto,  gamboge,  or  the  petals  of  various 
flowers,  are  red,  but  give  a  yellow  color  to  the  butter.  The 
fat  globules  are  derived  directly  from  the  blood,  which  is 
red,  and  in  some  conditions  of  the  cow  the  milk  is  distinct- 
ly red.  The  color  of  the  cream  from  colostrum  is  a  deep 
reddish  orange,  and  some  butter  from  Guernsey  cows  has 
quite  as  deep  an  orange  color  under  normal  circumstances 
as  the  colostrum  of  other  cows.  Some  butter  made  from 
the  cream  of  colostrum  of  a  Jersey  cow  in  the  author's 
dairy,  whose  butter  has  been  always  of  a  deep  jellow 
color,  was  distinctly  reddish.  Is  not  this  reddish  tinge, 
and  the  deep  yellow  approaching  the  red,  then  directly 
derived  from  the  coloring  matter  of  the  blood,  the  hema- 
tine  from  which  the  blood  derives  its  red  corpuscles?  As 
this  appears  to  be  the  case,  it  explains  why  the  color  of 
cream  or  the  fat  in  the  milk  is  a  special  attribute  of  each 
particular  cow,  and  why  some  cows  always  produce  deep 
yellow  butter  upon  the  same  food  which  yields  m  other 
cows  butter  which  is  almost  free  from  color  and  is  nearly 
white. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MILKING  AND  MILKING  APPARATUS. 

The  operation  of  milking  is  necessarily  based  upon  the 
peculiar  construction  of  the  udder  and  teats.  It  is  in- 
tended to  draw  the  milk  from  the  udder  by  the  force  of 
pressure  rightly  directed,  and  compel  the  natural  flow  of 
the  milk  from  the  secreting  lobules  into  the  ducts  and 
reservoirs  to  refill  the  reservoirs  after  the  pressure  has 
been  removed.     In  the  act  of  suction  the  calf  exerts 


214 

this  required  pressure  to  force  the  milk  from  the  teat 
and  intermits  this  pressure  by  intervals  of  rest.  Thus 
the  milk  is  drawn  by  a  series  of  pulsations  in  much  the 
same  mechanical  way  as  a  water-ram  forces  water  throuo^h 
pipes.  A  study  of  the  structure  of  the  udder  and  teat, 
with  the  various  reservoirs  and  ducts  leading  to  these, 
will  easily  enable  the  intelligent  dairyman  to  perform 
this  operation  in  the  required  manner. 

The  milk  reservoir  at  the  base  of  the  teat  is  first  to  be 
emptied  by  forcing  the  milk  from  it  downwards  through 
the  orifice  of  the  teat.  This  is  done  by  clasping  the  teat 
close  up  to  the  udder  in  the  hand,  between  the  folded 
forefinger  and  thumb.  These  are  then  drawn  tightly 
together,  and  the  pressure  of  these  upon  the  upper  part 
of  the  teat  is  followed  by  that  from  the  other  fingers  in 
succession,  so  as  to  make  a  following  pressure  from  above 
downwards.  The  motion  of  the  fingers  is  consecutive 
and  not  simultaneous;  acting  in  effect  as  if  a  set  of  rollers 
or  cams  pressed  upon  the  teat  from  base  to  extremity. 
This  method  is  indispensable  for  emptying  the  teat,  for 
if  all  the  fingers  are  closed  at  one  time  the  ducts  in  the 
teat  and  the  orifice  from  it  are  closed  and  the  milk  will 
be  forced  upwards  into  the  udder.  It  is  also  the  most 
rapid  and  effective  way  to  empty  the  udder,  for  it  forces 
the  milk  from  the  largest  reservoir  at  one  act  and  move- 
ment, and  when  the  pressure  As,  released  the  expansion 
of  this  reservoir  by  the  elasticity  of  its  fibrous  walls  pro- 
duces a  vacuum,  into  which  the  milk  is  forced  instantly 
by  the  pressure  of  air  upon  the  udder.  Thus  the  action 
is  similar  to  that  of  a  force-pump,  which  alternately 
forces  out  and  draws  in  a  stream,  the  first  by  mechani- 
cal pressure  upon  the  water  and  the  second  by  creating  a 
vacuum  which  is  immediately  filled  by  atmospheric  pres- 
sure, and  the  motion  by  which  the  stream  is  forced  out 
produces  the  vacuum  and  sets  in  action  the  pressure  of 
the  air.     This  rapid  milking  is  very  important,  as  it 


MILKING   AND  MILKING   API»ARATUS.  215 

affects  the  yield  of  milk  considerably.  It  has  been  shown 
that  the  milk  is  produced  by  a  breaking  down  and  de- 
composition of  the  cells  of  the  glandular  tissue,  which 
are  in  a  condition  of  engorgement  by  reason  of  the 
excited  circulation  of  blood,  and  the  formation  of  tissue 
for  this  large  accession  of  blood  through  the  arteries 
and  capillary  vessels.  Whatever  will  tend  to  excite  this 
activity  of  the  glandular  substance  will  necessarily  in- 
crease the  flow  of  milk.  The  rapid  pressure,  gently  and 
pleasantly  performed  upon  the  udder  in  the  act  of  milking, 
and  the  continuous  pulsations  following  each  movement 
of  the  hands,  tend  to  excite  the  circulation  in  the  udder 
and  increase  the  formation  of  cells  wdth  the  fat  granules 
contained  in  them,  and  as  these  must  necessarily  break 
down  as  fast  as  they  are  formed,  to  prevent  tumefaction 
of  the  glands,  the  production  of  milk  is  the  most  rapid 
at  this  time  and  during  the  act  of  milking.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  milk  is  thus  made  very  rapidly 
while  the  milking  is  going  on,  and  the  more  rapidly  the 
milking  is  performed  the  more  the  glands  are  excited  to 
action  and  the  consequent  secretion  of  milk  is  effected. 
In  fact,  a  cow  which  yields  from  twenty-four  to  forty- 
pounds  of  milk,  as  some  do,  at  one  milking,  must  neces- 
sarily secrete  a  large  portion  of  this  during  the  process  of 
milking.  The  '^giving  down"  of  the  milk,  as  the  pop- 
ular expression  has  it,  is  a  physiological  and  actual  fact, 
and  if  so  the  converse  of  it,  the  *'  holding  up  of  the 
milk,"  must  be  equally  a  fact. 

Hence  the  milking  must  be  performed  in  the  most 
effective  and  gentle  manner;  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid 
nervous  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  cow  and  secure 
the  necessary  excitation  of  the  udder.  When  the  milker 
seizes  upon  the  lower  part  of  the  teat  and  simply  presses 
the  milk  out  of  this,  without  exerting  any  pressure  upon 
the  milk  reservoir,  showai  in  the  engraving  (figure  25)  in 
Chapter  XV.,  the  milking  must  be  much  slower  and  the 


216  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

excitation  of  the  glands  much  less   active.     Thus  the 
rapid  milker  will  always  get  the  most  milk. 

Xot  every  cow  has  teats  of  the  most  convenient  size 
and  shape  for  this  purpose,  consequently  there  must  be 
different  methods  of  milking.  By  faking  hold  of  part 
of  the  udder  above  the  teat  and  where  the  large  sinus — 
or  milk  reservoir — is  situated,  a  person  with  a  small 
hand  may  milk  a  cow  with  very  short  teats,  at  least  two 
inches  in  length,  without  difficulty.  "With  cows  of  this 
kind — and  many  of  the  best  Ayrshire  cows  have  this 
defect — some  practice  is  necessary  to  make  one  an  adept 
in  milking.  But  from  practice  the  author  knows  it  to 
be  not  only  possible  but  easily  acquired  with  a  little 
patience,  except  by  persons  with  large  broad  hands. 
Even  then  it  is  easy  to  milk  such  cows  by  using  the 
upper  joint  of  the  thumb  bent  down,  as  a  support  for 
the  teat,  instead  of  the  palm  of  the  hand,  and  then  clasp- 
ing the  -fingers  around  the  teat  and  pressing  it  against 
the  bent  thumb,  the  very  same  kind  of  pressure  can  be 
exerted  upon  the  teat  and  udder.  This  method  also 
rests  the  hand,  when,  in  milking  cows  with  short  teats, 
the  wrist  becomes  wearied.  The  common  method  of 
stripping  by  means  of  the  forefinger  and  thumb,  drawn 
down  the  teat,  is  also  a  rest  for  the  wrist,  and  may  be 
used  for  milking  short  teats  ;  but  in  this  manner  of  milk- 
ing cows  the  teat  should  be  stripped  from  the  extreme 
top  to  the  bottom,  and  the  part  of  the  udder  where  the 
largest  milk  reservoir  is  situated  should  be  taken  in  and 
stripped.  The  milk  is  then  drawn  from  this  part  and  the 
perfect  operation  is  performed.  The  condition  of  the 
cow's  nervous  system  is  a  large  element  in  the  effective 
milking,  for  the  product  of  milk  is  greatly  dependent 
upon  nervous  action,  and  no  doubt  the  abundant  nerves 
with  which -all  parts  of  the  udder  are  furnished  must 
have  an  important  effect  in  controlling  the  action  of  the 
glandular  tissue.     Every   dairyman  knows   how   much 


MILKIKG  AKD  MILKIKG  APPAEATUS.  211' 

those  disturbing  conditions  of  the  cow  which  result  from 
changes  in  the  regular  course  of  management,  in  any  irri- 
tation, act  of  fear  or  fright,  worry,  pain,  anger,  and  un- 
usual exercise,  atfect  the  yield  of  milk  and  also  of  cream. 
JThis  decrease  of  yield  is  unquestionably  due  to  the  effect 
of  these  changes  upon  the  nervous  system  of  the  cow,  and 
this  is  very  great  at  times.  In  the  author's  dairy  the 
cows  have  been  always  apportioned  regularly  to  the  dif- 
ferent milkers,  and  the  variations  in  the  yield  of  milk 
have  been  very  slight,  except  when  some  changes  have 
occurred  to  disturb  the  cow.  When  an  unfamiliar  at- 
tendant fed  and  handled  the  cows,  or  a  stranger  did  the 
milking,  or  the  feeding  was  late  and  the  cows — excellent 
timekeepers — were  bawling  for  their  morning  meal,  and 
especially  when  a  fresh  hand,  unaccustomed  to  the  cows 
and  they  to  him,  beat  an  animal  (this  should  be  an 
unpardonable  offence  in  every  dairy)  to  compel  it  to 
obey  unusual  orders,  then  there  was  always  more  or  less 
falling  off  in  the  milk  of  that  day  and  part  of  the  next. 
Therefore  the  dairyman  must  take  this  fact  into  account 
and  avoid  every  disturbance  of  the  cow  in  the  manner  or 
time  of  milking  as  well  as  in  other  respects. 

The  periods  of  milking  should  be  at  intervals  of 
twelve  hours  as  nearly  as  may  be.  This  is  most  conven- 
ient, as  it  gives  ample  time  for  all  those  accessory  opera- 
tions which  come  in  between.  It  has  been  stated  by  some 
rather  visionary,  and  certainly  impracticable  and  inexperi- 
enced, writers  upon  dairy  subjects,  that  a  larger  quantity 
of  milk,  and  especially  of  cream,  can  be  procured  from 
cows  by  making  more  frequent  milkings,  at  eight  or  six 
hour  intervals  for  instance.  As  the  matter  of  conven- 
ience is  always  subject  to  a  question  of  profit,  if  this 
statement  were  true  it  would  be  important.  But  it  is 
wholly  untrue  and  misleading,  being  based  no  doubt, 
theoretically,  upon  the  fact  above  mentioned,  viz.,  that 
the  production  of  milk  is  excited  during  the  act  of  milk- 


218 


THE    DAIRYMAN  S   MANUAL. 


iiig.  But  if  tins  excitation  of  the  glands  by  the  act  of 
milking  could  he  made  continuous,  and  one  should  be 
always  milking,  it  might  be  supposed  more  milk  would 
be  procured  than  by  separate  milkings.  But  this  would 
be  a  wholly  mistaken  calculation,  for  the  too  frequent 
milking  of  a  cow  will  tend  to  lessen  the  product  of  milk 
and  a  cow  may  be  dried  off  in  this  way,  the  too  copious 
secretion  tending  to  exhaust  the  action  of  the  glands  by 
injurious  reaction.  The  glands  need  a  period  of  rest,  as 
all  active  and  nervous  tissue  does,  to  recuperate  and  gain 
resources  for  renewed  action.  Some  persons  think  this 
is  a  new  thing  altogether ;  but  there  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun,  and  this  is  as  old.  as  a  century  at  least. 
For  in  the  old  magazine  entitled  *^  Annals  of  Agricul- 
ture," for  1789,  the  following  statement  was  given  of  a 
trial  of  this  kind  with  two,  three,  and  four  milkings  in 
the  day: 

MAT  21,  1789.  I  OCTOBER  22,  1789. 

Pl7its.\  Pints. 

First  milking 9i  First  milking 11 

Second  milking 13   Second  milking 6 


Total... 22i 

MAT  22. 

First  milking. 13 

Second  milking 8 

Third  milking. 5 

Total... -...26 

MAT  28. 

First  milking 12 

Second  milking 7 

Third  milking... 6 

Fourth  milking 1 


Total 17 

OCTOBER    23. 

First  milking 11 

Second  milking 3 

Third  milking 3 

Total 17 

OCTOBER    24. 

First  milking 10 

Second  milking li 

Third  milking li 

Fourth  milking 3 


Total 26  Total 16 

-  Certainly  this  proves  nothing,  or,  if  anything,  that 
there  was  a  loss  as  well  as  a  gain,  and  the  long  night's 
interval  is  never  taken  into  account.  If  a  little  more 
milk  was  thus  gained  from  the  cow,  more  feed  must  be 
given,  and  the  labor  required  would  make  the  practice 
too  costly   or   wholly  impossible  in  a  business   dairy. 


MILKING   AND   MILKING   APPAHATUS.  219 

-True,  there  are  some  cows  of  such  phenomenal  produc- 
tiveness that  more  frequent  milking  than  twice  a  day  is 
necessary.  But  the  above  remarks  apply  to  such  average 
cows  as  are  found  in  most  dairies. 

In  regard  to  another  delusion,  skimming  the  cream  at 
sliort  intervals,  which  has  been  claimed  to  increase  the 
yield,  the  author  has  spent  six  months  at  one  time 
consecutively  in  his  dairy  in  making  all  these  experi- 
ments, but  never  got  more  butter  out  of  the  milk  by 
many  skimmings  than  was  in  it,  and  with  the  usual 
skimming  at  the  end  of  thirty-six  hours  in  shallow  pans, 
or  twenty-four  hours  in  deep  pails,  the  skimmed  milk 
never  showed  a  trace  of  cream  which  would  have  repaid 
the  labor  of  collecting  it. 

The  manner  of  milking  should'  be  systematic.  It 
should  be  cleanly,  rapid  and  complete.     A  good  system 


Fig.  26— A  DAIRY  PAIL.  Fig.  27.— MILKING  PAIL. 

of  milking  is  as  follows.  The  cows  should  be  kept  in  a 
contented  and  quiet  condition  during  the  milking.  Pre- 
viously, they  should  have  been  thoroughly  cleaned  by 
carding  and  brushing,  and  the  stable  floor  should  be  made 
clean  for  the  milkers.  The  milkers  should  be  clean 
and  their  clothes  free  from  dust.  A  quick  brush  with 
a  broom-corn  whisk  will  quickly  remove  any  adhering 
matter  from  th.e  clothing.  The  milking  furniture  should 
include  a  hand  wash-basin,  water,  soap  and  towel,  always 


220 

to  be  used  by  the  milker  before  he  begins  his  work.  A 
pail  of  water  with  a  box  hooked  on  to  one  side  for  cloths 
and  a  towel,  and  a  sponge  on  the  other  (figure  26),  has 
been  found  very  convenient  for  cleansing  and  wiping  off 
the  udders  and  teats,  which  is  absolutely  indispensable 
for  getting  clean  milk.  The  milker  is  provided  with  a 
small  low  three-legged  stool,  with  a  hand  hole  in  the 
seat  to  lift  it  by.  The  best  pail  is  a  tin  one,  made  of 
heavy  double  plate,  and  having  a  zinc  or  galvanized  iron 
ring  around  the  bottom.  The  top  of  the  pail  is  about 
half  covered  with  a  slightly  rounded  cover,  to  exclude 
dust,  and  has  a  strainer  lip  on  the  toj).  This  is  covered 
by  a  hinged  lid  not  shown  in  the  engraving  (figure  27), 
but  very  useful  to  prevent  dust  or  hairs,  at  the  shedding 
season,  from  falling  upon  the  strainer.  A  strainer  of 
this  kind  is  easily  reached  by  a  sponge  or  cloth  on  a  stiff 
brush,  which  is  the  best  thing  to  clean  dairy  utensils 
with.     Thus  provided,  the  milker  begins  his  work. 

The  process  is  as  follows- :  The  milk  secreted  by  the 
glands  gradually  fills  the  ducts  from  the  smallest  to 
the  largest,  the  latter  being  situated  at  the  lower  part 
of  the  udder  and  having  for  their  outlets  the  teats.  The 
duct  of  the  teat,  when  filled,  has  considerable  capacity. 
When  the  teat  is  gently  squeezed  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom,  the  contents  are  forced  out  in  a  stream,  and 
when  the  pressure  is  relieved  the  duct  is  instantly  filled 
again,  not  only  by  the  force  of  gravity,  but  also  by  the 
pressure  of  the  distended  membranes  of  the  udder  and 
by  the  atmospheric  pressure  as  well,  because  when  the 
teat  is  emptied  and  released  from  the  squeezing  of  the 
milker's  hand,  the  elastic  tube  takes  its  original  form, 
and  an  air  vacuum  is  formed  in  the  passage,  or  would  be, 
if  the  milk  were  kept  back  ;  this,  however,  rushes  in  and 
fills  the  space.  The  pressure  should  be  from  top  to 
bottom  of  the  teat,  and  should  be  made  without  drag- 
ging on  it.     To  pull  down  the  teat,  as  in  stripping,  so- 


MILKING   A^^D   MILKlis^G   APPARATUS.  221 

called,  between  the  fingers,  is  to  be  avoided,  unless  as  a 
rest  for  a  short  time,  or  for  a  good  reason.  The  teat 
should  be  taken  in  the  hand  from  the  top  and  squeezed 
with  a  firm,  even  motion.  One  may  force  the  milk  in  a 
contrary  direction,  and  from  the  teat  to  the  udder  by 
bad  milking,  and  many  cows  are  injured  by  this  faulty 
action  in  careless  or  ignorant  milkers.  When  the  udder 
is  completely  filled,  the  pressure  of  the  distended  mem- 
brane is  very  great.  Sometimes  this  pressure  overcomes 
the  elasticity  of  the  annular  or  ring-like  membrane  which 
closes' the  opening  of  the  teat,  and  the  cow  leaks  milk. 

If  it  were  not  for  this  outlet  the  cow  would  suffer; 
because  when  the  distension  of  the  udder  is  at  a  maxi- 
mum, the  pressure  then  affects  the  ultimate  gland  celjs, 
which  are  highly  nervous,  and  causes  pain  ;  it  further 
affects  the  circulatory  apparatus,  and  causes  engorge- 
ment ;  the  blood  in  these  fine  vessels  cannot  then  unload 
its  burden  of  milk,  and  this  is  returned  into  the  circula- 
tion, with  the  effect  to  load  the  blood  with  abnormal 
and  therefore  diseased  matter.  From  this  it  will  be 
readily  seen  that  some  cows  should  be  relieved  of  their 
milk  more  than  once  in  twelve  hours,  and  that  once 
in  eight  hours  would  be  better  and  safer,  and  would  be 
more  productive  of  milk  ;  and  further,  it  will  be  seen 
how  much  mischief  may  result  from  leaving  in  the  udder 
a  portion  of  the  milk  not  drawn  off,  or  of  drawing  it  in 
an  improper  manner.  The  udder  should  be  completely 
emptied  of  milk  at  each  milking.  The  cow  should  not 
be  disturbed  during  milking,  and  no  person  but  the 
milkers  should  be  present. 

The  best  time  for  milking  is  either  immediately  before 
or  after  feeding.  To  milk  while  feeding  is  troublesome 
and  annoying.  No  singing  or  droning  should  be  per- 
mitted, but  to  speak  to  the  cow  in  a  gentle,  petting  man- 
ner would  not  be  objectionable.  Constant  watch  should 
be  kept  against  any  movement  of  the  cow's  leg  or  foot 


222 

which  might  upset  the  pail,  and  if  such  should  happen 
accidentally,  the  cow  should  not  be  punished  for  it. 
Milking  should  be  made  a  business ;  there  should  be 
no  fuss,  no  noise  ;  it  should  be  done  quietly  and  quickly. 
If  a  cow  is  vicious,  she  should  be  punished.  A  cut  with 
a  raw-hide,  kept  purposely,  will  be  the  most  effective,  and 
if  but  one  blow  is  given  the  cow  will  be  disciplined  and 
not  enraged,  as  by  repeated  brutal  beatings  for  revenge. 
Punishment  for  cause  only,  and  that  prompt,  sharp, 
decisive  and  summary,  is  needed  at  times,  especially  with 
some  young  cows,  but  a  cow  should  never  be  beaten  and 
never  kicked,  or  struck  about  the  head  or  face. 

Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  draw  the  milk  artificially; 
this  is  done  by  means  of  a  silver  tube  (figure  28)  inserted 


C4f 


Fig.  28. — MILKING  TUBE. 

into  the  udder.  The  tub  is  shown  its  exact  size.  It  is 
oiled  and  carefully  inserted  in  the  teat,  and  in  case  of 
garget  or  wounded  udder  or  teat,  it  is  left  in  continuously, 
so  that  the  milk  runs  off  as  it  is  secreted.  The  slide 
regulates  the  depth  to  which  the  tube  is  inserted.  But 
these  tubes  should  only  be  used  when  thus  requii-ed. 
They  cannot  safely  be  used  for  regular  milking  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  hand.  Efforts  to  introduce  them  for  that 
purpose  have  been  costly  failures  ;  but  for  use  under 
special  circumstances,  as  when  the  teats  and  udder  are 
affected  by  cow-pox  and  covered  with  pustules  which 
must  not  be  broken,  or  in  cases  of  injury  to  the  teat, 
they  are  indispensable,  and  a  set  should  always  be  kept  in 
reserve. 

As  the  milk  is  drawn  from  each  cow  it  should  be 
weighed,  and  the  weight  of  the  pail  being  deducted,  the 
quantity  of  milk  should  be  marked  on  a  tablet  hung  up 
on  the  wall  behind  the  cow.     This  is  greatly  to  be 


MILKING    AND   MILKING   APPABATUS.  223 

advised  in  every  business  dairy,  as  it  gives  an  indication 
that  everything  is  going  on  right,  or  that  something  is 
wrong  which  requires  attention.  This  method  should 
commend  itself  to  every  business  dairyman.  There  are 
sometimes  troubles  occurring  even  in  the  best  regulated 
dairy. 

The  principar  difficulties  in  milking  consist  of  holding 
up  the  milk,  hard  milking,  leaking  of  the  milk,  and 
spattering  of  the  milk.  The  first  is  the  most  trouble- 
some, because  it  is  a  sort  of  intangible  matter,  arising 
out  of  the  wilfulness  of  the  cow,  which  is  very  difficult 
to  deal  with.  It  is  usually  first  noticed  at  the  time  when 
the  calf  has  been  taken  from  the  cow  after  having  been 
permitted  to  suck.  In  the  author's  dairy  not  a  single 
calf  has  ever  been  allowed  to  suck  its  dam,  and  the 
cows  that  have  been  thus  trained  from  birth  have  never 
exhibited  any  desire  to  let  their  calves  suck.  The  cow 
is  removed,  a  few  days  before  her  time  is  expired,  to  a 
secluded  building,  where  there  are  all  the  necessary  con- 
veniences provided  for  her  safety  and  comfort,  in  a  roomy, 
loose  stall.  Here  she  is  closely  watched,  and  when  the 
calf  is  soon  expected,  attention  is  given  so  that,  as  soon 
as  the  cow  has  dried  it,  tlie  calf  is  picked  up  and  carried 
away  to  a  pen  out  of  sight  and  hearing  of  the  cow.  Thg 
cow  is  then  fastened  up  by  her  neck^strap  to  a  ring  in 
the  trough,  in  the  usual  manner,  for  reasons  that  need 
not  be  particularized.  A  slop  of  scalded  bran  is  then 
given  warm  to  the  cow  and  she  is  left  alone  for  several 
hours.  By  that  time  she  has  become  quiet  and  her  ner- 
vousness has  gone.  Tlie  pail  is  then  brought  in,  and  she 
is  milked.  If  she  should  try  to  hold  up  her  milk  for 
the  calf  no  harm  is  done  at  this  time,  because  the  flow 
of  milk  has  not  come  ;  but  it  has  never  occurred  to  the 
writer,  in  many  years' experience  with  cows,  that  a  heifer 
with  her  first  calf,  and  that  has  not  herself  sucked  her 
dam,  has  ever  refused  to  let  her  milk  down  at  tho  fir^t 


224 

milking,  so  that  it  is  pretty  certain  that  a  habit  of  holding 
np  the  milk,  which  some  cows  occasionally  have,  is  due 
at  first  to  want  of  proper  training.  But  it  is  easier  to 
point  out  a  reason  for  any  thing  than  to  give  a  remedy; 
and  a  remedy  for  this  difficulty  is  not  always  to  be  found, 
although  many  have  been  suggested  by  persons  who  have 
found  them  effective  in  their  own  cases. 

The  most  popular  remedy  is  to  lay  a  weight  across  the 
loins,  such  as  a  heavy  chain  or  a  bag  with^sand  in  it. 
There  is  some  rational  plausibility  in  the  remedy,  for  the 
following  reasons  : — Tlie  nerves  which  control  the  whole 
muscular  system' of  the  hind-quarters,  and  the  digestive, 
urinary,  generative  and  lacteal  organs  and  their  func- 
tions, proceed  from  the  spinal  marrow  near  the  lumbar 
regions.  A  pressure,  then,  upon  the  loins  will  neces- 
sarily have  some  effect  upon  this  portion  of  the  nervous 
system,  and  may  quite  possibly  interfere  with  the  ability 
of  the  cow  to  control  the  voluntary  muscles  of  the  udder. 
If  one  will  carefully  note  the  action  of  a  cow  holding  up 
her  milk,  he  will  be  able  to  observe  how  she  will  draw  up 
the  udder  in  such  a  way  as  to  contract  the  outlets  of  the 
milk  ducts.  If,  then,  by  any  means  the  cow  can  be  pre- 
vented from  exercising  the  power  to  interfere  with  the 
flow  of  milk,  her  attempt  can  be  counteracted. 

Another  remedy  is  to  distract  the  attention  of  the  cow 
from  her  milking  by  some  enticing  food,  and  it  is  fre-  ^ 
quently  found  that  to  give  her  a  pailful  of  warm  bran  or 
meal  slop  when  she  is  to  be  milked  will  induce  her  to  let 
the  milk  flow.  But  the  most  effective  method  of  over- 
coming the  cow  is  to  use  themilking  tubes.  These,  when 
inserted  into  the  teats,  pass  into  the  large  milk  reservoir 
above  the  base  of  the  teat  and  draw  off  the  milk  in  spite 
of  the  cow's  efforts  to  retain  it.  It  has  also  been  found 
effective  to  refrain  from  milking  the  cow  until  the  udder 
has  become  painful  from  the  retention  of  the  milk,  when 
she  is  very  willing  to  be  relieved. 


milki:n'G  ais^d  MiLKi:j;rG  apparatus.  225 

Patience  is  also  a  yirtiie  in  this  respect,  and  if  the 
milker  will  stay  and  tire  out  the  cow,  waiting  and  con- 
tinuing to  rub  the  udder  and  draw  upon  the  teats  for  a 
considerable  time,  the  milk  will  come  in  the  end.  But 
one  should  never  lose  his  temper  or  become  impatient 
in  such  a  case  as  this.  To  irritate  the  cow  will  make 
matters  worse.  A  cow  that  exhibits  affection  and  regard 
for  her  owner  will  rarely  give  any  trouble  in  this  or  any 
other  way,  and  it  is  a  case  in  which  it  will  be  found  very 
convenient  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  animal,  as, 
indeed,  every  owner  of  a  cow  ought  to  be. 

A  hard  milker  is  usually  a  good  cow,  and  should  be 
treated  patiently.  This  diiSculty  arises  from  a  stricture 
of  the  sphincter  muscle  or  a  want  of  capacity  of  the  duct 
of  the  teat.  Either  of  these  can  only  be  remedied  by  me- 
chanical means.  The  insertion  of  a  silver  milking  tube 
into  the  teat  after  milking,  the  tube  being  closed  at  the 
bottom  by  a  piece  of  cork  or  India  rubber,  will  have  the 


& 


Fig.  29.— PLUG  FOR   CONTRACTED  TEAT. 

effect  of  stretching  the  membrane  and  enlarging  the  ori- 
fice, by  giving  a  new  set  to  the  muscles  of  the  teat  or  to 
the  sphincter  muscle  at  the  base  of  the  teat ;  or  a  piece 
of  whalebone  may  be  filed  into  a  proper  shape,  as  shown 
in  the  illustration,  both  to  enlarge  the  duct  and  to  be 
retained  in  its  place,  without  danger  at  the  same  time  of 
penetrating  too  far  so  that  it  cannot  be  withdrawn.  The 
form  shown  in  the  illustration  (figure  29)  provides  for  all 
these.  Whalebone  is  to  be  i^referred  because  it  is  hard, 
smooth,  elastic  and  cannot  be  broken.  It  should  be  well 
oiled  with  sweet  oil  before  it  is  inserted  into  the  teat. 
Leaking  of  the  milk  is  caused  by  the  exact  reverse 
of  that  which  produces  hard  milking.     It  is  doubtful  if 


226  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

any  permanent  remedy  can  be  fouiid  for  it.  A  temporary 
preventive,  and  one  not  at  all  difficult  of  application,  is 
to  smear  the  teats  of  a  leaking  cow  with  photographers' 
collodion  as  soon  as  she  is  milked.  A  bottle  of  collodion 
may  be  kept  in  the  barn  (al  ways  well  corked  or  it  will 
evaporate  very  soon),  and  a  small  quantity  may  be  rubbed 
over  the  teat  and  on  the  end  of  it  with  the  finger.  The-^^ 
collodion  contracts  considerably  as  the  chloroform  evapo- 
rates from  it  and  practically  forms  a  tight  bandage 
around  the  teat,  w^hich  compresses  the  duct.  \Yhen,  as 
is  sometimes  the  case,  a  cow  will  lose  two  or  three  quarts- 
of  milk  a  day,  it  may  pay  to  use  this  remedy.  A  rubber 
band  around  the  teat  has  been  suggested,  but  it  is  not  to 
be  recommended,  as  it  would  obstruct  the  circulation  and 
cause  trouble. 

Spattering  of  the  milk  is  produced  by  a  ragged  edge  of 
the  skin  at  the  extremity  of  the  duct  of  the  teat.  When 
it  is  permanent  it  will  require  for  its  removal  the  inser- 
tion of  a  short  plug  having  the  form  shown  at  figure  29, 
by  which  the  extremity  of  the  orifice  will  be  brought  into 
more  even  shape.  But  generally  the  use  of  a  piece  of 
smooth  pumice-stone,  rubbed  gently  upon  the  edge  of  the 
teat  before  and  after  milking,  will  remove  the  loose  scales 
of  the  skin  which  cause  the  trouble.  When  the  stream 
of  milk  is  diverted  from  its  course  and  broken  in  the 
manner  referred  to,  it  may  often  remedy  the  trouble  to 
clear  the  end  of  the  teat  with  the  finger-nail,  by  which 
any  loose  scale  of  skin  will  be  removed.  The  skin. is 
changed  in  its  natural  manner  by  the  flaking  off  of 
minute  scales  or  shreds,  and  as  these  are  worn  off  or  fall 
off  new  skin  appears  under  them.  It  is  this  continual 
reparation  of  the  skin  tissue  which  is  the  cause  of  the 
spattering,  and  when  the  cause  is  known  the  remedy  be- 
comes very  simple.  If  the  pumice-stone  or  finger-nail 
does  not  effect  a  remedy,  the  difficulty  may  be  removed 
by  applying  a  little  wet  carbonate  of  soda  or  saleratus  to 


MILKING   AKD   MILKING   APPARATUS.  227 

the  end  of  the  teat  and  rubbing  it  a  minute  ;  this  will 
dissolve  the  scale  and  cause  its  removal. 

Kicking  cows  make  serious  trouble  in  a  dairy,  but  a  good 
cow  should  never  be  discarded  on  this  account,  for  the 
trouble  may  be  cured.  Kindness  and  patience,  by  which  the 
confidence  and  affection  of  the  cow  are  secured,  often  effect 


Fig.  30.— TIE  FOR  KICKING  COW. 

a  permanent  cure  in  cases  where  the  fault  has  been  pro- 
duced by  cruelty  and  bad  management.  Sometimes  kind- 
ness is  not  effective,  as  where  a  cow  is  suffering  from  sore 
teats,  when  she  cannot  be  blamed  for  kicking.  Then  it 
is  necessary  to  tie  the  leg  in.a  very  simple  manner.  It  is 
done  by  the  use  of  a  fastening  common  in  Irish  and 
Scotch  dairies,  and  known  as  a  spancel.  It  consists  of  a 
loop  of  cord  about  as  thick  as  a  common  clothes-line, 
and  abont  twenty  inches  in  length,  having  a  cross  stick 
fastened  at  one  end.  This  is  shown  at  figure  30.  It  is 
used  as  follows  :  One  end  is  looped  around  one  of  the 


Fig.  31.— TIE  FOR  KICKING  COW,  AS  USED. 

cow's  legs  just  above  the  ankle,  and  the  end  with  the 
cross  stick  is  carried  around  the  other  leg  and  the  cross 
stick  is  passed  through  the  doubled  cord,  as  shown  at 
fiofure  31.  The  cow  cannot  lift  her  les  to  kick,  and  the 
band  is  very  quickly  and  easily  applied  and  taken  off. 
Such  a  fastening  should  be  kept  in  every  cow  stable  to 
be  ready  in  case  of  accident,  for  the  quietest  cow  may 
kick  and  upset  a  pail  of  milk  when  the  teats  are  cracked 
and  sore  in  cold  weather,  or  scratched  by  briers  when 


228  THE   dairymaid's  MAl^-UAL. 

at  pasture,  or  when  they  are  tender  after  calving.  Under 
such  circumstances,  and  with  young  heifers  having  tender 
udders  at  the  first  milking,  the  author  has  used  this  fast- 
ening with  the  most  satisfactory  effect. 

The  principal  troubles  with  milk  are,  loss  of  quantity, 
ropiness,  mixture  with  blood,  a  bitter  flavor,  foaming  in 
the  churn,  difficulty  of  churning,  and  white  specks  in  the 
butter.  Most  of  these  come  from  without  the  cow  and 
are  avoidable.  One  cow  may  be  constitutionally  delicate 
and  more  subject  to  ailments  than  another  mqre  robust, 
and  if  she  is  very  defective  in  this  resj^ect,  she  is  poor 
property  and  should  be  got  rid  of  as  soon  as  possible. 
There  are  some  cows  that  are  constitutionally  scrofulous 
and  subject  to  tuberculosis  and  otlier  similar  diseases, 
such  as  softening  of  the  bones  and  suppuration  of  the 
milk  glands.  Cows  so  diseased  are  easily  distinguished 
by  their  thin,  white  skin,  the  bloodless  appearance  of  the 
membranes  of  the  eyes,  and  the  occurrence  of  nodules 
and  swellings  about  the  udder,  the  joints  and  the  head. 
The  milk  of  such  cows  is  usually  thin,  bluish  in  color 
and  fi'equently  mixed  with  strings  of  ropy  or  tenacious 
fibrous  matter  which  comes  from  the  teats  without  any 
other  appearance  of  disorder,  and  may  not  be  detected  in 
the  milk  until  this  comes  to  be  strained.  But  healthy 
cows  need  never  cause  any  trouble  in  regard  to  the  milk 
if  they  are  properly  cared  for.  If  anything  is  wrong,  the 
cause  may  always  be  found  in  the  manner  in  which  the 
cow  is  treated — either  the  food  is  suddenly  changed;  or 
it  is  deficient  in  quantity  or  quality;  or  it  is  not  rightly 
prepared  ;  or  the  cow's  health  is  suffering  from  some 
accidental  cause,  as  exposure  to  heat  or  cold,  or  storms, 
or  some  sudden  change  which  interferes  with  the  circula- 
tory system ;  or  she  has  been  chased  by  dogs,  or  roughly 
handled  by  her  companions  or  her  keeper.  Something 
that  might  have  been  avoided  has  happened  to  produce 
the  trouble. 


MILKING   AND   MILKING   APPARATUS.  229 

For  instance,  when  the  milk  falls  off  in  quantity,  the 
first  thing  to  suspect  is  something"  in  the  feeding  or 
the  watering.  A  cow  will  often  fall  ofl;  in  milk  when 
changed  from  dry  feed  in  the  spring,  too  suddenly  or 
abruptly,  to  grass.  The  grass  acts  upon  the  bowels  as  a 
laxative  and  diuretic,  and,  in  stimulating  other  organs, 
interferes  with  the  secretion  of  milk  by  changing  the 
currents  of  the  circulation.  It  may  not  follow  that  a 
change  from  moderately  good  to  more  stimulating  food 
will  always  produce  an  increase  in  the  milk  ;  if  too  sud- 
denly made,  the  change  may  easily  reduce  the  flow  of 
milk  for  a  time.  In  the  same  way  the  increased  feeding 
will  often  so  stimulate  the  milk  organs  as  to  cause  them 
to  pass  blood  into  the  milk  ducts  unchanged,  instead  of 
elaborating  it  into  glandular  cells  which  produce  the  milk, 
and  then  the  milk  is  mixed  with  blood.  This  result  may 
also  occur  from  any  undue  excitement  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  udder,  such  as  excessive  exercise  in  runnins: ; 
or  from  bruising  or  pressure  when  a  cow  lies  upon  a  well- 
filled  udder;  or  from  contact  of  the  udder  with  damp  or 
wet  ground  at  any  time,  or  with  a  cold  floor  in  the 
winter. 

The  careful  owner  of  a  cow  should  always  consider 
that  the  udder  is  a  highly  nervous  and  vascular  organ, 
provided  with  a  very  finely  diffused  circulatory  and  secre- 
tive apparatus,  and  that  a  slight  injury  may  have  a  very 
serious  effect  upon  it.  It  has  been  explained  that  the 
cell  structure  of  the  milk  glands  is  itself  the  source  from 
which  the  milk  is  derived,  and  that  these  cells  are  replen- 
ished from  the  arterial  blood  conveyed  to  and  distributed 
through  the  udder.  When,  therefore,  it  is  considered 
that  in  a  cow  giving  thirty  pounds  of  milk  in  twenty- 
four  hours  all  this  quantity  is  actually  produced  by  the 
twofold  change  of  blood  into  cells  and  of  cells  into  milk 
and  cream,  the  activity  of  the  organ  which  performs  this 
enormous  work  must  indeed  be  wonderful ;  and  it  should 


230  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

not  be  surprising  that  an  apparently  insignificant  cir- 
cumstance may  produce  some  unexpected  and  serious 
results.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  one  who  keeps  a  cow 
should  ever  be  watchful  and  cautious  against  the  least 
variation  of  treatment  that  may  so  easily  afcect  the  con- 
dition of  the  milk. 

Ropy,  bitter,  or  acid  milk,  the  latter  producing  specks 
of  curd  in  the  butter,  may  be  and  usually  are  caused 
by  ill-health  in  the  cow,  by  which  the  condition  of  the 
blood  is  affected.  The  milk  in  its  normal,  healthful 
condition  is  sliglitly  alkaline  ;  but  when  the  blood  is  out 
of  condition  its  alkalinity  may  be  much  increased,  or 
the  milk  may  be  acid.  In  one  case  only,  however,  have 
I  found  ropy  milk  excessively  alkaline ;  in  every  other 
case  in  which  I  have  tested  such  milk  it  has  been  dis- 
tinctly acid,  and  has  sometimes  showed,  by  the  test  of 
litmus  paper,  a  high  degree  of  acidity  and  has  become 
very  soon  completely  curdled  ;  the  long,  fibrous  clots, 
placed  under  the  microscope,  appear  simply  as  curd 
formed  in  the  ducts  and  molded  by  them  into  the  stringy 
pieces  which  pass  through  the  teat  into  the  milk.  This 
ropy  or  stringy  matter  is  easily  dissolved  in  a  solution  of 
carbonate  of  soda  or  potash,  and  would  therefore  seem 
to  be  caused  by  acidity.  The  white  specks  which  often 
appear  in  the  butter  are  due  to  a  similar  cause,  and  are 
merely  particles  of  curd  or  cheesy  matter  which  are 
formed  in  the  milk  and  adhere  to  the  cream,  and  are  car- 
ried up  and  mingled  with  it,  and  so  go  with  it  into  the 
churn.  In  this  case  they  are  only  partially  removed  by 
the  most  careful  washing,  and  the  butter  is  unavoidably 
injured  by  them. 

The  best  remedy  for  all  these  troubles  with  the  milk 
is  to  administer  one  pound  of  sulphate  of  soda  (Glauber 
salts)  or  of  sulphate  of  magnesia  (Epsom  salts),  dissolved 
in  warm  water,  by  means  of  a  common  drenching  horn ; 
and  after  this  has  operated,  a  daily  dose  of  one  ounce  of 


THE  CARE   01*   MILK.  231 

hyposulphite  of  soda  may  be  given  with  benefit,  for  two 
weeks,  so  as  to  effectually  free  the  system  from  all  acid- 
ity. This  salt  is  a  most  valuable  medicine  in  the  dairy 
on  account  of  its  antiseptic  and  alterative  properties,  and 
a  pound  or  two  of  it  may  be  beneficially  kept  for  use. 
It  is  readily  taken  when  powdered  and  sprinkled  over  a 
mess  of  scalded  bran  or  some  cut  feed,  and  it  will  be 
found  useful  in  all  these  cases  of  trouble  with  milk.  The 
improper  behavior  of  milk  in  the  churn  is  due  altogether 
to  the  after  management  of  the  milk,  and  requires  special 
consideration. 


CHAPTEK  XVIIL 

THE    CARE    OF   MILK. 

• 
The  proper  management  of  milk  includes  its  disposal 
from  the  time  it  is  drawn  from  the  cow  up  to  the 
time  it  is  skimmed  and  put  to  the  best  practical  use 
under  the  special  circumstances  of  each  case.  The  first 
of  these  various  operations  is  straining  it  after  it  is 
milked.  This  is.  done  with  the  greatest  care  to  keep  out 
any  specks  of  dust,  or  accidental  hairs  that  may  fall  from  ^ 
the  cow.  It  should  be  poured  through  at  least  two  wire  ^ 
gauze  strainers,  besides  that  in  the  milk  pail,  and  through 
a  fine  muslin  cloth  doubled  as  well.  This  straining  will 
certainly  stop  even  a  small  hair  going  endwise,  which  it 
can  scarcely  do  through  all  these  strainers.  But  while 
the  use  of  the  strainers  is  imperative,  the  thorough 
cleansing  of  them  should  not  be  neglected,  lest  by  any 
chance  a  remnant  of  milk  may  stay  upon  them  and  be- 
come sour,  and  act  as  a  pernicious  ferment  upon  other 
milk.  The  effect  of  a  particle  of  dried  sour  milk  or 
curd  upon  any  utensil  has  been  carefully  explained  in 


232 


THE   DAUiYMAVS   MANUAL. 


Chapter  XV.  as  a  constant  threatening  danger  in  the 
dairy,  and  is  to  be  most  carefully  avoided. 

When  the  milk  has  been  strained  in  the  stable  and  be- 
fore it  leaves  there,  it  is  carried  to  the  milk-house  for 
setting  for  cream.  The  method  of  setting  varies  accord- 
ing to  the  system  practiced.  By  the  use  of  the  centrif- 
ugal cream  separator,  and   the   immediate   use  of  the 


Fig.  33. — THE   '*  CENTRIFUGAL  CREAMER." 

skimmed  milk,  nothing  more  is  required  than  an  apart- 
ment for  ripening,  or  really  souring,  the  cream  to  fit  it 
for  churning.  This  invaluable  machine  for  the  butter 
dairy  deserves  a  few  words  of  description.  It  is  the 
invention  of  a  Swede.  It  is  known  as  the  "'  Centrifugal 
Creamer,"  and  is  intended  to  remove  the  cream  by 
mechanical  means — centrifugal  force,  in  fact — to  take 
the  cream  from  the  new  milk,  and  thus  avoid  the  neces- 


THE   CARE   OF   MILK.  233 

sity  of  setting  the  milk  at  all,  whether  in  pans  or  in 
deep  cans,  with  all  the  trouble,  time  and  cost  incident 
to  that  so  far  necessary  and  risky  process.  Herewith  we 
give  engravings  of  this  new  dairy  machine,  which  prom- 
ises to  make  a  revolution  in  our  dairy  practice  (figure  32). 
It  was  first  exhibited  at  the  great  English  dairy  fair,  at 
Kilburn,  where  it  obtained  a  silver  medal,  and  at  Haar- 
lem the  Agricultural  Society  awarded  it  a  silver-gilt 
medal.  Its  inventor  claims  for  it  the  following  advan- 
tages :  The  cream  can  be  separated  from  the  milk  as 
soon  as  it  is  drawn  from  the  cow  and  aired  ;  the  use  of 
ice  is  unnecessary;  there  is  no  setting  of  milk  for  the 
cream  to  rise  ;  all  the  cream  is  taken  from  the  milk,  and 
the  production  of  butter  is  consequently  increased  ;  the 
skimmed  milk  is  perfectly  fresh,  and  may  be  used  at 
once  for  any  desired  purpose,  without  loss  of  sweet- 
ness;  the  quality  of  the  butter  is  improved,  as  the 
cream  is  separated  in  a  perfectly  pure  condition  ;  the 
process  is  easy  and  simple  ;  the  machine  is  easily  cleaned; 
lastly,  the  separation  of  cream  may  go  on  continuously 
so  long  as  fresh  milk  is  poured  in  and  the  skimmed 
drawn  out.  The  operation  depends  upon  the  principle, 
that  in  a  rapidly  revolving  vessel  the  heavier  contents 
are  forced,  by  the  action  of  their  weight,  to  the  outside, 
while  the  lighter  gather  in  the  center.  The  work  is  done 
as  follows  :  The  receiver,  which  is  made  of  steel,  and  is 
supported  by  a  vertical  axis  turned  by  a  pulley  6,000/in 
a  minute,  is  filled  with  milk,  by  means  of  a  funnel, 
which  passes  into  the  chamber,  through  the  central  col- 
umn (figure  33,  a,  which  shows  its  interior  arrrangement). 
The  rapid  rotary  action  immediately  begins  to  sepa- 
rate the  heavy  milk  from  the  light  cream,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  outer  layers  of  milk  are  completely  separated. 
As  the  fresh  milk  is  poured  in,  this  separated  milk  is 
forced  by  it  into  the  tube,  h,  and  arrives  through  it  into 
the  chamber,  B,  from  which  it  escapes  by  a  pipe.     The 


234 


THE   DAIBYMAN'S   MANUAL. 


cream  in  the  center  being  continually  augmented  by  the 
process  of  separation  is  raised  by  the  entering  milk  into 
the  tube,  c,  and  passing  by  the  tube, /,  into  the  chamber, 
C,  escapes  by  another  pipe  into  proper  receptacles ;  thus 
the  process  continues,  so  long  as  any  milk  is  introduced. 
It  should  follow  that  as  water  is  heavier  than  the  cream, 


Fig.  33.  —  "  CREAMER  "    SEEN   IN    SECTION 


if  a  quantity  of  it  should  be  introduced  when  the  milk  is 
all  in,  the  cream  remaining  may  be  separated  to  the  last 
drop,  until  the  milk,  too,  is  exhausted,  when  a  stream 
of  water  passed  through  for  a  time  will  cleanse  the  ma- 
chine perfectly. 

Improved  forms  of  this  machine  are  now  made,  some 
of  them  of  small  size  to  be  operated  by  hand,  instead  of 
about  two-horse  power,  which  the  large  machine  re- 
quires, and  is  thus  brought  into  convenient  practical  use 


THE   CARE   OF   MlLK.  ^35 

for  small  dairies  where  no  more  than  ten  or  twenty  cows 
are  kept.  Cream  is  lighter  than  milk,  and  according  to 
the  rules  of  gravity  the  former  will  rise  through  and 
float  upon  the  latter.  But  there  are  some  conditions 
which  control  and  regulate  this  movement.  The  relative 
densities  of  the  two  fluids  are  changed  by  differences  of 
temperature.  Warm  milk  is  lighter  for  the  same  bulk 
than  cold,  because  cold  condenses  it ;  and  a  cubic  foot 
or  a  measured  gallon  of  milk  at  forty-five  degrees  is 
heavier  than  the  same  bulk  at  sixty-five  degrees.  But 
the  gravity  of  the  cream  is  not  changed  to  so  great  an 
extent  as  that  of  the  milk  is,  and  the  cream  becomes 
relatively  lighter  under  these  circumstances,  and  conse- 
quently rises  to  the  surface  more  rapidly.  This  is  the 
principle  upon  which  the  Swedish  dairymen  have  prac- 
ticed their  deep  pail  and  cold  water  system  of  setting 
milk  ;  and  this  system  has  been  adopted  by  American 
dairymen  with  much  success.  It  may  be  applied  to 
either  deep  or  shallow  pans,  or  to  the  earthen  pans,  a 
sort  of  intermediate  compromise  between  the  two,  in  com- 
mon use  in  the  Eastern  Pennsylvania  dairies,  and  also  in 
Holland.  In  these  dairies  running  spring  water  is  used 
for  cooling  the  milk,  but  the  temperature  is  not  below 
fifty-five  or  sixty  degrees  in  summer,  and  the  earthen 
pans  are  not  over  eight  inches  deep.  It  is  necessary  to 
use  pans  of  this  or  even  less  depths  when  the  tempera- 
ture is  not  less  than  sixty  degrees,  because  otherwise  the 
cream  would  not  have  time  to  rise  before  the  milk  be- 
came sour  and  thick.  But  in  the  twent3Mnch  deep 
pails  set  in  ice- water  at  a  temperature  of  forty-five 
degrees  the  milk  will  remain  sweet  for  seventy-two 
hours,  and  all  the  cream  will  rise  in  twelve  liours.  But 
this  rapid  separation  of  the  dream  has  another  effect 
which  should  be  mentioned,  and  this  is  that  as  the 
cream  rises  it  carries  with  it  by  attraction  and  between 
the  globular  particles   a  considerable   quantity  of  the 


236  THE  dairyman's  manital. 

milk,  so  that  in  a  deep  pail,  containing  twenty  inches 
of  milk,  and  having  five  inches  of  cream,  so-called,  upon 
the  ui)per  part  of  it,  at  least  one-half  of  this  cream  is 
milk  ;  while  in  a  shallow  pan  containing  four  inches  of 
milk,  npon  which  only  half  an  inch  of  cream  has  risen, 
this  cream  is  pure  and  contains  no  milk.  But  this  solid 
cream  has  been  slowly  rising  through  four  inches  of 
milk  during  thirty-six  hours,  while  the  five  inches  have 
risen  in  twelve  hours  through  twenty  inches  of  milk, 
and  this  rapid  motion  is  the  cause  of  the  large  admix- 
ture of  milk  with  the  cream. 

There  is  a  common  opinion  among  dairymen  that  con- 
tact with  air  is  necessary  during  the  rising  of  the  cream. 
This  is  a  mistake.  It  is  true  that  new  milk  from  some 
cows  contains  a  highly  volatile  odor,  to  which  the  name 
"animal  odor"  has  been  given.  It  is  a  gratuitous  as- 
sumption, in  our  opinion^  that  this  is  a  true  animal 
odor  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  an  odor  of  uncleanness,  either 
in  the  cow,  the  food,  or  water,  or  in  the  manner  of  milk- 
ing. There  are  cows  from  whose  milk  no  odor  of  the 
kind  is  to  be  perceived,  and  none  but  the  sweetest,  and 
there  are  other  cows  whose  odor  is  so  powerful  and  per- 
sistent that  it  remains  in  the  butter  and  cannot  be  got 
rid  of.  Truly,  the  cow  may  bear  the  blame  in  this  that 
belongs  of  right  to  her  keeper,  and  doubtless  the  cow 
does  so  to  a  great  extent.  But  as  this  odor  may  in 
some  cases  pass  off  rapidly,  it  is  well  that  the  milk 
should  be  exposed  superficially  to  a  current  of  pure  air, 
and  the  more  moist  this  is  the  better,  for  moisture  dis- 
solves this  odorous  gas.  In  the  method  known  as  the 
"  Oooley"  system  the  milk  is  set  in  deep  pails,  which  are 
covered  with  inverted  flaring-edged  pans,  held  down  by 
cross-bars  of  wood,  and  submerged  in  ice-cold  water.  It 
may,  and  does  to  many,  seem  at  first  sight  that  this  is 
equivalent  to  using  closely  covered  pans  or  pails  for  set- 
ting milk  ;  and  it  would  be  so,  were  it  not  that  water 


THE  CARE  OF  MILK.  237 

has  more  affinity  for  odors,  and  absorbs  them  more  rap- 
idly, than  any  other  liquid,  and  this  peculiarity  of  water 
is  turned  to  account  in  this  method.  For  the  covers  of 
the  pails  are  so  made  and  fitted  that  the  vapors  which 
rise  from  the  warm  milk  are  condensed  upon  the  inner 
surface  of  the  pan,  which  is  purposely  made  slightly 
^jonical,  and  the  condensed  liquid  flows  down  to  the  edge 
of  the  pan  and  mixes  with  the  water,  and  is  absorbed. 
The  cold  water,  therefore,  becomes  a  purifying  as  well 
as  a  cooling  agent,  and  on  this  account  this  system  has 
been  so  successfully  used  in  dairies  that  many  winners 
of  dairy  prizes  have  gained  them  through  the  use  of 
Cooley  creameries.  This  is  the  only  system  in  use  which 
practices  total  submersion  of  the  milk,  and  this  chief 
principle  of  it  is  a  special  claim  to  superiority,  and  the 
patent  is  based  upon  it  as  one  of  its  fundamental  princi- 
ples. This  close  covering  of  the  milk,  therefore,  should 
not  be  considered  as  a  proof  that  airing  is  unnecessary, 
because  a  very  perfect  substitute  for  this  is  provided, 
combined  with  many  other  important  conveniences  and 
advantages. 

There  are  other  methods  of  setting  milk  in  cold 
closets,  but  they  are  all  based  on  the  fact  that  the  low 
temperature  caur>es  a  rapid  separation  of  the  cream.  It 
is  also  a  necessary  consequence  that  the  cream  is  consid- 
erably mixed  with  milk  and  quite  fluid.  This,  however, 
is  an  advantage  of  this  system,  for  the  cream  is  taken  off 
in  precisely  the  best  condition  for  churning,  and  no 
milk  need  be  added  to  it  before  it  goes  into  the  churn. 
This  secures  constant  regularity  in  the  churning  and 
evenness  in  the  quality,  and  is  an  example  of  the  great 
advance  in  the  practice  of  dairying  that  has  been  se- 
cured by  the  use  of  ice,  which  makes  perfect  uniformity 
possible. 

The  practice  which  is  common  in  many  creameries 
and  dairies  of  setting  the  milk  in  deep  pails  in  pools 


238  THE   DAIETMA:sr'S   MANUAL. 

of  ice-water,  where  they  float  with  the  tops  of  the  pails 
exposed  to  the  air,  differs  somewhat  from  the  covered 
pail  system.  The  difference  consists  in  tliis,  that  the 
cream  is  exposed  to  air  which  is  warmer  than  the  milk. 
» Now  warmth  moves  upward  and  cold  downward,  and 
every  one  knows  that  hot  water  may  remain  npon  ice 
without  melting  any  more  than  a  very  small  depth  of  it 
downward.  Further,  cream  needs  to  undergo  a  process 
of  ripening  before  it  is  fit  for  churning,  and  this  ripen- 
ing is  merely  the  oxidation  of  the  cream  by  its  exposure 
to  air.  This  change  occurs  with  greater  rapidity  in 
warm  air  than  in  cold,  and  most  so  with  the  shallow  pan 
setting.  In  the  case  above  noted,  the  warm  air  of  the 
room  in  contact  with  the  cream  hastens  this  ripening 
process,  at  the  same  time  that  the  cold  water  hastens  the 
rising  of  the  cream.  But,  after  practicing  both  these 
methods  with  the  utmost  care  and  constant  observation 
of  results  for  some  years,  the  author  has  not  been  able 
to  distinguish  any  difference  in  the  product  of  the  butter 
either  in  quantity  or  in  quality.  The  only  difference  is 
that  cream  raised  in  shallow  pans  is  pure  and  too  thick 
to  be  churned  without  adding  an  equal  bulk  of  milk  or 
water,  and  that  one  quart  of  it  will  produce  a  pound  of 
butter,  while  that  raised  in  deep  pans  is  half  milk,  and 
two  quarts  produce  one  pound  of  butter  ;  yet  the  same 
quantity  of  milk  in  the  dairy  week  after  week  yields  pre- 
cisely the  same  amount  of  butter  from  either  system  of 
setting,  in  the  same  time  of  churning.  So  that  after  all, 
if  the  same  care  is  used  and  the  principles  upon  which 
butter-making  is  based  are  skillfully  followed  from  first 
to  last,  it  matters  little  which  system  is  practiced,  ex- 
cepting so  far  as  one  may  be  more  convenient  than 
another,  under  varying  circumstances. 

The  shallow  pan  system  of  setting  is  the  most  com- 
mon, and  will  be  first  commented  upon.  The  con- 
struction of  the  dairy  used  -for  this  method  differs  some- 


THE   CARE   OF   MILK.  233 

what  from  those  used  for  deej^  setting,  as  the  furnish- 
ing necessarily  varies  considerably.  Collars  are  mostly 
used  for  shallow  setting,  and  as  many  of  these  are 
offensive  and  injurious  to  the  milk,  the  proper  arrange- 
ment of  a  desirable  milk-cellar  will  be  described. 

In  a  building  that  is  not  cooled  by  ice  or  warmed  by 
a  stove,  the  most  regular  temperature  is  secured  in  a 
cellar.  The  common  receptacle  for  milk  is  a  cellar,  be- 
cause every  house  is  supplied  with  one,  or  should  be, 
and  it  is  the  most  convenient  place  for  it.  For  a  fam- 
ily dairy  the  cellar  will  be  the  appropriate  place  for 
keeping  milk  ;  and  if  it  is  not  fit  for  this  particular  pur- 
pose, which  requires  absolute  cleanliness  and  purity,  it 
is  not  fit  for  human  beings  to  live  over.  In  every  such 
case  the  cellar  should  be  made  fit  by  thorough  cleans- 
ing, and  draining,  if  necessary;  laying  a  floor  of  cement, 
moderate  lighting  and  ventilation,  and  the  protection  of 
the  windows  by  wire  gauze.  A  slatted  outside  door  is 
very  suitable  for  a  milk-cellar,  and  this  should  be  on  the 
north  side  and  opened  at  night.  The  walls  should  be 
closely  pointed  and  whitewashed  inside.  The  common 
practice  of  protecting  a  cellar  from  frost  by  heaping  lit- 
ter from  the  stable  around  it,  is  very  objectionable.  Nor 
should  turnips  or  potatoes  be  stored  in  a  cellar  where 
milk  is  kept,  unless  it  is  divided  by  a  tight  partition  and 
the  root  cellar  abundantly  ventilated. 

Ventilation  for  a  cellar  may  be  provided  by  carrying  a 
tube  or  spout  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling,  and  through 
the  wall  out  of  doors,  where  it  should  be  protected  by  iine 
wire  gauze.  The  arrangement  is  explained  in  figure  34, 
in  which  the  cellar  wall  is  shown  with  the  spout  fixed 
against  it.  The  outlet  is  divided  in  the  center,  and  one 
half  communicates  with  the  spout  which  reaches  to  the 
bottom  of  the  cellar,  and  this  furnishes  an  inlet  to  fresh, 
cold  air.  The  other  is  connected  with  the  short  upright 
spout    outside,   through  which   the  warm,   fouled    air 


240 


THE   DAIRYMAX  S   MANUAL. 


escapes,  as  shown  by  the  arrows.  This  arrangement 
has  been  found  .very  useful  both  for  purif^^ng  and  dry- 
ing the  air  of  a  cellar  ;  for  the  cold  air  coming  in  at  the 
bottom  is  drier  than  the  warm  air  passing  out,  and  the 
moisture  of  the  cellar  is  continually  absorbed  and  carried 
off  so  long  as  any  warm  air  floAvs  out  of  the  upper  spout. 
The  spouts  are  provided  with  slides  by  which  they  may 
be  closed  when  necessary.     The  cellar  should  be  well 


Fig.  34.— MILK-CELLAR  UNDER   A   HOUSE. 

ceiled  with  lath  and  plaster,  otherwise  dust  will  be  drop- 
ping from  the  rooms  above ;  (md  in  any  case  this  is  ad- 
visable, for  if  no  other  means  of  ventilation  are  provided, 
air  will  pass  up  and  down  through  the  floor  over  the 
cellar,  and  it  may  be  bad  for  the  milk,  as  well  as  for  the 
occupants  of  the  rooms  above.  The  ceiling  not  only 
preserves  cleanliness,  but  regularity  of  temperature. 

Where  an  outside  cellar  is  desirable,  an  excellent  ar- 
rangement is  like  that  shovvn  in  figure  35.  A  cellar  is 
dug  twelve  feet  deep  ;  the  walls  are  built  Qt  stone,  con- 


THE   CARE   OF   MILK. 


241 


Crete  or  brick.  A  sub-cellar  at  least  eight  feet  deep  is 
made  by  throwing  a  floor  over  the  cellar  four  feet  below 
the  surface.  An  out-house  or  shed  is  built  over  this  as 
a  protection  and  is  lighted  by  a  sash  in  the  roof.  A  sash 
is  placed  over  a  raised  frame  in  the  floor,  as  shown,  which 
lights  the  sub-cellar.  Steps  are  provided  for  access  to 
each  cellar.  The  sub-cellar  is  furnished  with  shelves 
and  a  bench.  In  such  dry  soils  as  will  admit  of  it  a 
cellar  of  this  kind  is  one  of  the  best  possible  for  a  small 
dairy,  or,  indeed,  for  household  purposes.  It  is  light  and 
cool,  and  the  temperature  will  not  vary  from  about  sixty 


Fig.  35.— OUTSIDE  MILK-CELLAR. 


degrees,  or  somewhat  less,  the  whole  year.  It  should  be 
kept  whitewashed,  by  which  the  light  is  well  diffused 
about  it.  It  may  be  found  convenient  to  use  the  upper 
portion  as  a  churning-room  and  for  storing  milk  utensils. 
Cellars  are  apt  to  be  damp.  In  this  case  the  air  may 
be  dried  by  means  of  a  peck  of  fresh  lime  placed  in  a 
box  or  tub  in  the  cellar.  Twenty  pounds  of  lime  (one 
peck)  will  absorb  about  seven  pounds  of  water,  and  to 
take  seven  pints  of  water  from  the  air  of  a  cellar  will 
make  it  very  dry.     The  lime  will  simply  fall  to  a  pow- 


242 


THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 


der  and  may  then  be  used  for  many  useful  purposes,  or 
be  added  to  the  garden  compost  heap. 

AYhere  the  cellar  cannot  be  used  on  account  of  the 
wetness  of  the  soil,  an  above-ground  cellar  must  be  pro- 
vided. This  may  be  partly  sunk  in  the  ground,  but  if 
there  is  any  danger  of  water  soaking  into  it,  it  should  be 
wholly  above  the  ground.  It  becomes  then,  properly,  a 
milk-house,  and  the  description  of  such  a  house  will  be 
as  follows: 

Milk-houses  may  be  constructed  of  wood,  of  stone, 
or  of  brick.  If  well  constructed,  one  kind  may  be 
made  as  useful  as  another.  For  some  purposes  a  frame 
house  is  the  best,  retaining  an  even  temperature  better 


Fig.  36.— FRAilE  MILK-HOUSE. 

than  any  other.  Air  passes  through  brick  and  plaster 
with  much  greater  facility  than  is  generally  supposed. 
In  a  test  once  made  the  air,  forced  by  a  wind  pressure  of 
only  three  pounds  on  a  square  foot,  passed  through  a 
brick  wall  plastered  inside  with  such  ease  that,  when 
collected  by  a  funnel  one  foot  square  and  discharged 
through  a  Email  orifice,  it  was  sufficient  to  extinguish 


THE   CARE   OF   MILK.  243 

the  flame  of  a  common  candle.  It  is  tins  passage  of  air 
through  brick  which  causes  a  deposit  of  ice  on  the  inner 
surface  of  the  wall  of  a  warmed  house  when  a  cold  wind 
is  blowing  outside,  or  a  deposit  of  dew  on  the  inner  wall 
of  a  cold  house  when  a  warm  wind  is  blowing  in  the 
summer.  But  a  frame  house  must  be  well  constructed, 
otherwise  it  will  soon  begin  to  decay  at  the  foundation 
and  this  will  at  once  destroy  its  usefulness.  The  frame 
house  should  be  supported  upon  brick  or  stone  founda- 
tions, and  if  the  soil  is  suitable,  the  foundation  should 
be  sunk  at  least  four  feet  below  the  surface.  A  section 
through  the  center  of  a  C9nvenient  milk-house  is  shown 
in  the  illustration  (figure  36). 

The  foundation  is  of  brick  or  stone,  and  is  carried  up 
suflBciently  to  preserve  the  timber  from  decay.  The  floor 
is  covered  with  hydraulic  cement  concrete  three  inches 
thick,  and  is  finished  with  a  light  coat  of  clear  cement 
and  sand  in  equal  parts.  One  window  is  on  the  north 
side,  and  is  protected  against  flies  by  a  wire  gauze  screen. 
A  space  of  two  feet  is  left  above  the  ceiling,  and  through 
this  a  ventilator  is  passed,  which  is  closed  by  a  trap-door 
that  can  be  raised  by  means  of  a  cord  reaching  below. 
The  walls  and  ceilings  should  be  plastered  and  a  hard- 
finishing  coat  of  plaster-of-Paris,  costing  only  a  few 
dollars  extra,  will  add  much  to  the  cleanliness.  Lime 
wash  will  be  always  peeling  off,  and  the  scales  will  fall 
down  upon  the  milk.  The  hard-finish  is  less  porous 
than  the  lime,  which  is  an  advantage. 

A  brick,  stone,  or  concrete  milk-house  will  be  prefer- 
able where  the  material  can  be  procured  easily;  stone 
or  concrete  will  be  the  cheapest  where  the  stone  or 
gravel  is  abundant,  and  either  is  better  than  brick  both 
for  winter  or  summer  use.  If  the  walls  are  lined  in- 
side by  means  of  furring  strips  four  inches  thick,  upon 
which  the  laths  are  nailed,  a  considerable  air  space  will 
be  secured  and  this  will  help  greatly  to  preserve  an  even 


244 


THE   DAIRYMA]S'S  MANUAL. 


temperature  in  the  house.  A  section  of  a  house  con- 
structed in  this  manner  is  shown  at  figure  37.  The  out- 
side of  the  milk-house  should  be  painted  or  washed  white, 


Fig.  37.— BRICK   OR  STONE  MILK-HOUSE. 

as  this  reflects  the  heat  and  keeps  the  inside  much  cooler 
than  would  bare  bricks,  stone  or  boards. 

For  a  butter  dairy  an  adjoining  room  for  churning 
should  be  provided  (figure  38),  furnished  with  water  for 
washing  pans  and  utensils,  a  stove  for  maintaining  suffi- 
cient warmth  in  the  winter,  and  a  sink  and  drain  fur 
carrying  off  the  slops,  which  are  shown  at  (a).  In  such 
a  dairy-house  the  furniture  should  consist  of  a  proper 
arrangement  of  shelves  (hb)y  a  table  {c)  for  keeping  but- 
ter on,  and  alow  bench  (d)  for  the  cream  jars  in  one 
corner,  out  of  the  way  of  passing  to  and  fro.  In  the  au- 
thor's shallow-pan  dairy-room  the  shelves  are  made  in 
three  tiers,  the  lowest  one  twenty-four  inches  above  the 
floor,  the  others  thirt^'-six  and  forty-eight  inches  high 
respectively.  They  are  made  of  four  pieces  of  one  and 
one-quarter  by  three  inch  slats  set  on-  edge  three  inches 
apart,  and  the  upper  edge  is  beveled  sharp,  for  the  pans 


THE  CARE  OF  MILK. 


245 


to  rest  upon,  and  thus  to  secure  a  thorough  circulation 
of  air  around  and  under  the  pans.  This  dairy  is  a  cellar 
in  the  rear  of  a  basement,  which  is  used  for  a  churning 
and  wash  room.  It  is  entirely  below  the  surface  at  the 
rear,  the  ground  sloping  downward  to  the  front  of  the 
basement.  A  window  protected  by  wire  gauze  and  on 
the  north  side  gives  ample  ventilation.  The  floor  is 
cemented,  the  walls  are  of  stone,  lathed  and  plastered, 
and  the  ceiling  is  also  lathed  and  plastered.  There  is 
no  difficulty  in  keeping  this  dairy  at  a  temperature  of 
sixty-two  degrees  or  lower,  by  having  the  door  and  win- 


A 

CHU  RMS  WASH 
XI        BQOM, 


MILK. 


CZD 


bJ 


h 


Fig.  38.— GROiiND  PLAN^  OF  MILK-HOUSES  (Figs.  36  and  37). 

dow  closed  through  the  day,  and  opening  the  window 
at  night.  Lime  is  used  to  keep  the  air  dry  and  pure. 
Nothing  else  is  kept  in  this  dairy  but  milk  and  butter. 
The  construction  of  a  deep-pail  dairy  is  somewhat  differ- 
ent. It  requires  a  supply  of  cold  spring  water  or  of  cool 
well  water  and  ice. 

A  most  desirable  milk-house  of  this  kind  is  one  that 
is  supplied  with  a  flowing  stream  of  cold  spring  water. 
This  secures  the  requisite  evenness  and  lowness  of  tem- 
perature and  an  advantageous  moisture  and  purity  of 
atmosphere.  The  best  materials  for  spring-houses  are, 
first,  stone  ;  then,  concrete  ;  and  lastly,  brick.  Wooden 
spring- houses  may  be  acceptable  under  such  circum- 
stances as  will  avoid  dampness  :  for  instance,  when  water 
is  brought  from  a  distant  spring  in  a  pipe  laid  under- 
ground, and  made  to  discharge  in  a  tank  excavated  or 


246 


THE   DAIRYMAN^S  MANUAL. 


built  in  the  center  ;  or  a  tank  or  pool  maybe  constructed 
upon  a  spring  which  fills  the  reservoir  and  flows  off  with- 
out wetting  the  ground.  But  as  one  of  the  important 
points  about  a  spring-house  is  evenness  of  temperature, 
a  solid  heat  and  cold  proof  wall  is  desirable. 

Spring-houses  may  be  used  for  either  shallow  or  deep 
setting,  but  the  economy  of  the  latter  is  too  obvious  to 
be  disregarded.  For  instance,  to  set  400  quarts  of  milk 
in  shallow  pans  holding  eight  quarts  each,  a  trough  of 
more  than  ninety-six  square  feet  of  surface  would  be  re- 


B 


'^J^^^W////^///^/^^yA^^^^^^^^^y^^^)f^^J^^^^/77^ 


I 


PQOL.FOR  20 
9  mCH  Pails* 


.t=i 


^C^Le.Q/rr.  TQAffJNCH.. 


^^^^^^2: 


SZZZZZZZZ^Zi^ 


Fig.  S9.— PLAN  OF  MLLK-HOUSE. 

quired.  A  useful  plan  for  a  deep-tank  milk-house  is 
shown  at  figure  39;  {a)  is  the  inlet  pipe,  {h)  the  outlet, 
and  in  the  center  is  the  pool. 

The  house  should  be  roomy.  A  brick  or  concrete 
floor  is  preferable  to  any  other.  The  concrete  is  made 
of  gravel  or  coal  ashes,  and  mixed  with  a  thin  mortar 
of  water  lime  and  sand,  in  the  proportion  of  one  of 
lime  to  three  of  sand.  The  concrete  is  laid  three  inches 
thick  and  well  rammed  down.  The  pool  should  be  lined 
with  brick  laid  in  cement,  if  it  is  below  the  surface  ;  if 
it  is  raised  above  the  surface,  it  maybe  built  of  brick  laid 
in  cement  and  painted  inside.     For  a  handsome  pool  the 


THE  CARE  OF  MILK. 


247 


inside  may  be  lined  with  porcelain  tiles  and  the  top  of 
the  wall  covered  with  a  marble  coping.  A  section  of  a 
house  provided  with  such  a  pool  is  shown  at  figure  40. 
The  house  may  be  sunk  two  feet  below  the  surface,  or 
built  on  the  level  of  the  ground,  as  may  be  convenient. 
The  water  is  brought  into  the  tank  by  a  lead  pipe,  a, 
at  the  bottom,  and  escapes  at  the  water  level  of  the  tank, 
as  sho^vn  at  h.  The  passage  around  the  tank  is  in- 
tended to  be  three  feet  wide,  which  gives  ample  roo^ 
for  brick  benches  here  and  there,  upon  which  cream  jars, 
pails  or  dishes  x>i  butter  or  spare  utensils  may  be  placed. 


WATER, 


W//////>y^J^//yy/y/'//Y////y//y/'y///?. 


////Wy/////^ 


Fig.  40.— MILK-HOUSE   WITH  RAISED  TANK. 

The  drainage  of  such  a  house  should  be  perfect,  and  good 
ventilation  should  be  secured  by  such  methods  as  have 
been  described  in  previous  chapters.  The  roof  should  be 
divided  from  the  lower  apartment  by  a  ceiling  having 
two  or  three  feet  of  space  above,  by  which  the  heat  of 
the  sun  beating  on  the  roof  is  shut  off.  The  cooler  the 
house  is  kept,  the  drier  it  will  be  ;  for  the  evaporation  of 
the  water  will  be  less,  and  the  less  the  evaporation,  the 
less  condensation  there  will  be  upon  the  floor,  the  walls, 
and  the  sides  of  the  tank. 

A  small  frame  spring-house  built,  as  a  preliminary 
test,  by  the  author,  and  which  had  the  pool  sunk  in  the 
ground  so  as  to  utilize  a  spring  which  existed  on  the 
spot,  has  been  found  very  useful.    It  cost  less  than  forty 


248 


THE   dairyman's  MANUAt. 


dollars  and  the  pool  was  large  enough  to  hold  200  quarts 
of  milk.  The  plan  is  shown  by  the  diagram  (figure  41), 
in  which  a  section  across  the  house  and  pool  is  shown. 
,  This  house  is  twelve  feet  square.  The  pool  was  sunk 
until  a  bubbling  spring  was  reached,  and  the  bottom  was 
paved  with  flat  stones  loosely  placed,  the  water  rising 
through  the  spaces  between  the  stones  until  it  flowed  out 
of  a  pipe  at  the  top,  shown  at  h,  leaving  a  depth  of 
eighteen  inches  of  water  in  the  pool.     As  the  water  rises 


Fig.  41.— SPRING-HOUSE  FOR  MILK. 


suddenly  when  several  twenty-quart  pails  of  milk  are 
put  into  the  pool,  the  outlet  is  made  of  three-inch  glazed 
drain  tile,  covered  with  wire  gauze  as  a  protection.  The 
drain  discharges  into  a  stream  close  behind  the  spring- 
house. 

To  cool  200  quarts  of  milk  from  seventy-five  or  eighty 
degrees  down  to  fifty-five,  requires  either  consider- 
able time  or  a  good  flow  of  cold  water.  With  a  flow 
of  two  quarts  per  minute  of  water  at  a  temperature  of 
fifty-five  degrees,  and  an  air  temperature  of  eighty  de- 
grees, four  hours  are  required  to  reduce  the  milk  to  the 
temperature  of  sixty  degrees,  aod  the  temperature  of 
the  milk  cannot  be  reduced  as  low  as  that  of  the  water 
unless  the  pool  is  protected  by  a  covering  from  the  air. 
It  may  thus  bo  found  advisable  to  provide  falling  doors 
to  cover  the  tank  when  the  water  supply  is  not  more 


THE   CARE   OF   MILK. 


249 


than  two  quarts  in  a  minute,  which  is  equal  to  a  flow, 
without  pressure,  of  a  quarter-inch  stream  of  water. 

The  author  has  built  several  dairy-houses  for  himself 
and  other  dairymen;  the  latest  and  most  improved,  how- 
ever, is  the  last  one  made  for  his  own  use,  and  described 
as  follows.  The  ground  plan  is  shown  at  figure  42.  It 
consists  of  a  tank-room  and  a  churning-room,  with  an 
attic  overhead.  The  tank-room  is  three  feet  below  the 
gL'ound  level,  for  the  sake  of  coolness ;  the  churning- 
room  is  a  foot  above  the  ground.  The  whole  house  is  ten 
by  twenty  feet,  inside  measurement ;  the  tank-room  is 
ten  by  eight,  and  the  churning-room  ten  by  twelve.  The 
tank-room  is  the  most  important  part,  and  this  has  a 


Fig.  43.— PLAN   OF   MILK-HOUSE. 

A,  Milk  Tank,  4^^  feet  by  7;  B.  Churiiinp:Knom.  with  Pump,  Bench  and  Sink; 
C\  Low  Siuli  and  Drain;  £>,  Table. 

stone  basement  wall  laid  in  cement  and  a  cemented  floor. 
The  tank  is  twenty-two  inches  deep,  made  of  brick  laid 
in  cement,  and  with  a  loose  brick  floor.  It  has  a  perma- 
nent cool  spring  running  through  it,  and  an  overflow 
pipe  eighteen  inches  above  the  bottom,  to  keep  this  depth 
of  water  always  in  it.  The  cans  used  are  the  deep  cans, 
twenty  by  eight  and  a  half  inches,  each  holding  four- 
teen quarts,  or  thirty  pounds  of  milk.  The  tank  has  a 
passageway  around  it,  and  has  a  falling  door  over  it  to 
exclude  dust  and  preserve  the  desired  temperature,  when 
there  is  need  for  it,  as  m  extremely  hot  or  cold  weather. 


250 

To  preserve  the  equilibrium  of  the  pails,  racks  made 
of  galvanized  iron  bars,  as  shown  (figure  43),  are  used; 
the  spaces  are  nine  inches  square,  and  a  pail  fits  in  each 

one.     This  rests  on  a  shoulder 
^       made  in  the  wall  of  the  tank 
^       by  setting  out  a  row  of  bricks 
on  each  side  one  inch,  so  that 

RACK  FOR  THE  PAILS.  ^^^  ^'^ck  is  threc  iuchcs  bclow 

the  water  level.      There  is   a 

window  at  the  north  end  over  the  tank.     A  tank  of  this 

size  will  hold  thirty-five  pails  of  fourteen  quarts  each, 

or  the  milk  of  fifteen  to  twenty  cows. 

Light  has  the  effect  of  deepening  the  color  of  the  cream 
a  little,  but  I  never  found  any  difference  in  the  butter 
from  cream  kept  in  closed  cans  in  this  tank,  or  in  the 
submerged  cans  of  the  Cooley  system,  which  of  course 
exclude  light,  as  compared  with  that  from  cream  kept  in 
my  shallow-pan  dairy  used  at  the  same  time  as  this  deep- 
setting  milk-house. 

The  churning-room  is  reached  by  steps  from  the  tank- 
room,  and  a  glazed  door  separates  the  two.  Both  apart- 
ments are  plastered  and  hard-fiiiished  over  lath.  The 
walls  are  made  of  two-by-eight  studs,  covered  with  build- 
ing paper  on  both  sides,  and  outside  with  tight-fitting 
*' novelty"  siding.  This  secures  a  very  good  non-con- 
ducting wall,  and  helps  very  much  to  preserve  an  even 
temperature.  A  bench  or  table  (d)  is  fixed  on  the  east 
side  the  whole  length  of  the  room.  This  is  made  low 
enough  to  work  at  easily,  and  is  for  packing  butter  and 
other  similar  work.  There  is  a  small  table  in  the  corner 
of  the  tank-room  for  the  butter  to  remain  on  until  it  is 
finally  worked  for  packing  during  either  hot  or  cold  wea- 
ther. At  the  right  hand  of  the  table  (d)  is  a  sink  with 
a  pump  and  pipe  leading  to  a  drain  ;  this  is  as  high  as 
tlie  table.  Another  on  the  level  of  the  floor  [c],  for 
washing  the  churn,  is  at  the  right  hand  of  this  sink. 


tTHE  CARE  OF  MILK. 


251 


The  butter- worker  can  be  placed  in  the  front  of  this  sink 
when  in  use,  so  that  the  drainage  from  it  is  caught  and 
does  not  mess  up  the  floor.  The  floor  is  of  matched 
boards  laid  over  common  hemlock  boards,  and  is  oiled 
so  that  it  will  not  absorb  any  spilled  cream,  which  can 
be  wiped  off  without  trouble.  An  open  stairway  leads 
up  to  the  attic,  where  butter  paiJs,  .etc.,  can  be  stored. 


Fig.  44. — ROTATmG  shelves  for  dairy. 
A  large  drawer  on  rollers,  under  the  table,  holds  the 
st  t  and  other  drawers  are  for  paraffine  paper  and  small 
things.  After  several  years'  use  of  this  house  the  author 
does  not  know  that  he  could  add  anything  to  this  milk- 
house  to  make  it  more  useful,  convenient,  or  agreeable. 


252 


THE   DAlRYMAN^S   MANUAL. 


The  French  dairies,  both  for  butter  and  cheese,  are 
invariably  built  solidly  and  compactly  of  stone,  with 
stone-flagged  floors  for  cleanliness  and  coolness,  and  are 
exceedingly  roomy  and  airy.  The  benches  are  made  of 
stone,  and  stone  benches  also  serve  as  tables.  Nothing 
is  placed  on  the  floor,  or  less  than  eighteen  inches  above 
it,  as  the  French  dairymen  have  a  dread  of  ^'gi'ound 
air,"  which  they  believe  confers  a  bad  odor  upon  milk 
and  butter.  These  dairies  are  frequently  washed  with  a 
copious  flood  of  water,  which  passes  off  by  a  drain. 


Fig.  45.— MILK  CLOSET.  Fig.  46.— INTERIOR  OF  MILK  CLOSET. 

A  most  convenient  arrangement  of  shelves  for  a  shal- 
low-pan dairy,  which  was  used  in  the  Beacon  farm  dairy 
at  Northport,  Long  Island,  when  it  was  under  the  charge 
of  Mr.  \\m.  Crozier,  is  shown  at  figure  44.  It  is  made 
to  revolve  upon  pivots  fitted  in  the  floor  and  ceiling,  and 
saves  many  steps  in  the  work  of  skimming  and  replacing 
the  filled  pans. 

For  a  family  dairy  where  one  cow  is  kept  it  is  seldom 
possible  to  have  a  separate  milk-hoase,,  and  a  cupboard  or 
refrigerator  must  be  used  as  the  receptacle.     An  excel- 


THE   CARE   OP  MILK. 


253 


lent  closet,  devised  by  the  author  and  found  very  useful, 
is  shown  at  figure  45.  It  is  enclosed  by  wire  gauze  to 
exclude  flies  and  admit  air,  and  is  provided  inside  with 
revolving  shelves  (figure  46)  by  which  the  milk  may  be 
put  in  and  taken  out  most  conveniently.  The  cream  jar 
is  kept  under  the  shelves.  A  closet  of  this  kind  will  ^ 
hold  five  tiers  of  two,  three,  or  four  pans  each,  the 
shelves  being  six  or  eight  inches  apart.  The  wire  gauze 
covering  permits  perfect  ventilation. 

A  closet  or  refrigerator  for  the  use  of  ice,  and  prac- 
tically deep  setting  on  a  small  scale,  is  shown  at  figure 


Fig.  47.— REFRIGERATOR  CLOSET. 

47,  and  needs  no  further  description  than  to  note  that 
the  water  from  the  melting  ice  is  either  carried  off  from 
the  ice  tray  by  a  -pipe,  or  drips  upon  the  pails  and  runs 
off  through  a  pipe  in  the  bottom.  This  closet  is  lined 
with  sheet  tin  or  zinc. 

The  tin  pans  in  common  use  for  setting  milk  have  one 
objectionable  feature;  this  is,  the  seam  around  the  bot- 
tom in  which  sour  milk  will  be  concealed,  un"'ess  great 
circumspection  is  used.  The  pressed  pan,  of  which  fig- 
ure 48  gives  a  section,  has  no  such  hiding  place  for  the 


254 

sour  milk,  which  acts  upon  the  fresh  milk  in  the  same 
manner  as  rennet,  and  will  often  curdle  it  in  a  few  hours 
and  before  the  cream  has  been  able  to  rise  to  the  surface. 
The  pressed  pans  are  therefore  much  easier  to  clean  and 
much  safer  in  use.  It  is  also  an  improvement  on  the 
pans  to  have  sup])orts  on  the  bottom  at  least  half  an  inch 
thick,  to  raise  the  bottom  of  the  pans  from  the  shelf. 
This  permits  the  air  to  circulate  under  the  pan  and  cools 
the  milk  more  quickly  than  if  it  rested  closely  upon  a 
solid  shelf.  The  slatted  shelves  are  intended  to  assist  in 
this  more  rapid  cooling.  The  deep  pails  which  are  pre- 
ferred by  so  many  dairymen  are  about  twenty  inches 
deep  and  from  eight  to  nine  inches  in  diameter.  A  rim 
encircles  the  bottom  which  raises  it  about  an  inch,  and 

-\        ^ 

Fig.  48. — SECTION  or  pressed  tin  milk  pan. 

which  is  perforated  with  several  holes  to  admit  air  to 
circulate  under  the  bottom.  The  shape  of  these  pails  is 
shown  in  figure  47,  with  the  Hardin  refrigerating  closet, 
in  wiiich  they  are  used.  These  pails  may  be  used  either 
in  dry  ice' or  cold  water  setting,  but  cannot  be  used  ex- 
cept with  ice  or  cold  water,  the  effect  of  which  secures 
the  low  temperature  by  which  only  the  cream  can  be 
raised  rapidly  enough  through  so  great  a  depth  of  milk 
to  prevent  loss  by  premature  souring. 

The  furniture  of  a  dairy  is  not  complete  without  ar- 
rangements for  washing,  drying  and  airing  the  pans.  A 
sink  in  the  dairy-room  or  the  kitchen,  with  a  small  pump 
attached  to  it  and  connected  with  a  well  or  cistern,  will 
be  necessary  to  save  trouble  and  secure  effectiveness.  In 
family  dairies  every  housekeeper  will  as  easily  recognize 
the  utility  of  the  best  method  of  cleansing  the  apparatus 
and  arranging  the  furniture  in  a  systematic  way,  as  a  bus- 


THE   CARE   OF  MILK. 


255 


iness  dairyman  whose  living  depends  upon  his  success. 
Nevertheless,  there  are  dairies  and  creameries  where  the 
system  in  operation  is  totally  devoid  of  the  commonest 
means  of  insuring  the  necessary  cleanliness;  and  in  see- 
ing this  the  natural  consequence — a  poor 
quality  of  product  which  unfortunately  is 
the  rule  rather  than  the  exception — is  by 
no  means  surprising.  Above  the  sink 
there  may  be  a  rack  in  which  shallow  pans 
may  be  kept  upon  their  sides;  or  lath 
shelves  upon  which  deep  pails  may  be 
placed  bottom  upwards.  An  outdoor  rack 
placed  in  a  sunny  exposure  Avill  be  found 
very  convenient.  For  shallow  pans  this 
may  be  provided  on  the  porch  of  the  milk- 
house,  or  of  the  kitchen  ;  for  deep  pans  -pig.  49. 
a  post  set  in  the  ground  near  the  dairy,  dbting  rack  for 
and  furnished  with  a  number  of  pins,  as  *"^^  pails. 
shown  at  figure  49,  will  serve  as  a  rack  for  airing  them. 
The  greatest  mistakes  in  the  dairy  are  made  in  setting 
the  milk  for  cream.  In  the  family  dairy,  where  one 
cow  supplies  milk  and  butter,  the  arrangements  are 
usually  better  than  in  some  farm  dairies.  Here  the  ar- 
rangements are  often  surprisingly  bad.  At  times  one 
may  have  seen  the  milk  of  four  cows  set  in  a  sleeping- 
room,  and  under  the  bed.  The  young  woman  who  man- 
aged that  dairy  prided  herself  on  her  good  butter.  What 
she  knew  of  bad  butter  must  have  been  fearful  to  con- 
template. In  some  farm-houses  the  milk  is  set  in  the 
living-room  where  the  cooking  and  eating  are  done,  and 
where,  in  the  evening,  the  farmer  and  the  hired  man 
smoke  their  pipes  and  dry  their  wet  boots  and  socks 
under  the  stove.  No  wonder  some  persons  prefer  oleo- 
margarine to  butter  made  in  that  fashion.  If  these  lines 
come  under  the  notice  of  any  one,  man  or  woman,  who 
keeps  milk  under  such  circumstances  as  these,  or  in  any 


256  THE 

way  approaching  to  them,  it  may  be  said  to  him  or  her, 
that  good  butter  cannot  be  made  iu  that  way,  and  the 
labor  spent  over  it  is  only  half  or  quarter  paid  for. 

The  first  necessity  in  setting  the  milk  is  perfect  purity 
of  place  and  surroundings.  Then  there  should  be  the 
following  adjuncts  : 

A  moderate  circulation  of  fresh  and  moist  air. 

Shelves  raised  at  least  three  feet  from  the  ground. 

A  temperature  not  over  sixty  degrees  in  summer,  and 
not  below  forty-five  degrees  in  winter. 

Perfectly  clean  utensils,  and  very  little  light. 

It  matters  little  how  or  where  these  conditions  are  se- 
cured ;  that  they  are  secured  is  sufificient.  The  follow- 
ing reasons  may  be  given  ;  viz.,  milk  readily  absorbs 
odors  and  the  odors  are  concentrated  in  the  cream;  with 
stagnant  air  the  natural  odor  of  the  fresh  milk,  which  is 
disagreeable  to  some  persons,  cannot  be  removed  ;  in  the 
dry  air  the  cream  becomes  of  a  leathery  toughness  and 
often  produces  specks  in  the  butter,  and  always  makes 
an  inferior  quality.  When  milk  is  kept  on  the  ground 
in  a  cellar  or  milk-house,  it  is  brought  into  contact  with 
the  coldest  air,  in  which  all  the  bad  odors  of  the  place  are 
condensed.  At  a  higher  temperature  than  sixty  degrees 
the  milk  will  sour  and  often  thicken  before  the  cream 
has  risen,  and  to  have  the  best  butter,  the  cream  should 
be  taken  froiji  sweet  milk.  At  a  lower  temperature  than 
forty-five  degrees  the  color  of  the  cream  is  much  light- 
ened, and  the  butter  will  be  too  light  in  color ;  besides, 
there  is  danger  of  freezing,  and  frozen  cream  will  not 
make  good  butter.  If  the  milk  pans  are  not  quite  sweet 
and  clean,  the  milk  will  sour  too  soon.  With  too  much 
light  the  butter  will  not  have  the  rich,  deep  color  that  is 
desired. 

When  the  milk  is  brought  in  from  the  cow  stable  or 
the  shed  it  is  strained  at  once  into  the  pans  or  pails,  and 
these  are  put  away  iu  the  place  provided  for  them.     If  it 


THE   CARE   OF   MILK.  257 

is  not  strained  at  once,  some  cream  will  rise,  if  the  milk 
is  rich,  and  this  cream  will  be  caught  in  the  meshes  of 
the  strainer  and  be  lost.  Before  the  milk  is  poured  out 
of  the  pail  it  is  safe  to  first  pour  out  a  quart  or  so  and  re- 
turn this  into  the  pail ;  this  will  remoye  any  stray  hairs 
or  dust  that  may  have  fallen  on  to  the  outside  of  the 
strainer  spout  or  lip  of  the  pail.  This  is  more  especially 
advisable  with  those  pails  the  strainer  of  which  cannot 
be  wiped  with  a  clean  cloth.  The  improved  strainer 
pail,  shown  in  figure  27 — which,  by  the  way,  is  not  pat- 
ented— may  be  easily  cleaned  or  wiped  to  remove  any 
hair,  dust  or  other  impurity  which  may  have  fallen 
on  it,  and  it  is  also  protected  by  the  hinged  cover  (not 
shown  in  the  engraving)  which  excludes  dust  during  the 
milking.  In  placing  the  milk  pans  on  the  shelves,  or  the 
pails  in  the  pool,  it  will  be  found  convenient  to  have 
them  arranged  in  regular  order  and  to  retain  this  order 
always,  so  that  there  is  never  any  doubt  about  the  right 
pans  to  be  skimmed.  The  shelves  maybe  arranged  so  as 
to  make  this  very  easy  and  not  to  move  any  pans,  but 
to  put  the  freshly  filled  pans  always  in  the  place  of 
those  last  skimmed.  If  one  shelf  only  is  used,  the  pans 
must  be  moved  along  to  fill  the  place  of  those  skimmed 
at  one  end  and  make  room  at  the  other  end  for  the  fresh 
milk.  The  pans  should  never  be  covered.  If  it  is  nec- 
essary to  cover  anything  to  exclude  flies,  mice  or  other 
vermin,  the  windows  should  be  covered  with  fine  wire 
gauze,  and  to  guard  against  mice  the  shelves  should  be 
purposely  arranged. 

"When  the  m,ilk  has  stood  thirty-six  hours  the  cream 
will  have  risen,  and  should  be  skimmed  off.  At  this 
time  the  cream  will  be  thick  and  adherent,  and  on  good 
milk  that  has  been  set  two  inches  deep  in  shallow  pans 
should  be  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  This  will 
give  twelve  per  cent  of  pure  cream,  which  is  as  much  as 
the  author  has  ever  Tcmion  any  cow  to  give,  although  it  has 


258 

often  been  said  that  sucli  a  cow  gives  twenty-five  or  thirty 
per  cent  of  cream.  Some  cows  will  show  twenty-eight 
per  cent  of  cream  in  a  tive-inch-deep  test-glass  ;  but  this 
is  not  pure  cream.  This  same  milk  set  in  a  twenty-inch- 
deep  pail  will  show  about  six  inches  of  cream,  or  thirty|i 
per  cent ;  but  when  cream  rises  in  a  deep  vessel  a  largeJ^ 
quantity  of  milk  is  brought  up  with  it  and  stays  with  ^ 
it,  and  the  thirty  per  cent  which  is  shown  in  a  deep 
Cooley  pail,  shrinks  in  a  Ferguson  Bureau  pan  to 
twelve  per  cent.  There  is  an  advantage,  however,  in 
this  diluted  cream,  which  is,  that  it  is  in  precisely 
the  best  condition  for  good  churning ;  while  in  skim- 
ming the  pure  cream  at  least  an  equal  quantity  of  milk 
should  be  poured  off  with  it  into  the  cream  jar,  and  both 
be  stirred  up  together.  To  remove  the  cream  from 
shallow  pans,  a  small,  flat  cream  knife  should  be  passed 
around  the  edge  of  the  pan  to  loosen  it,  and  the  film  of 
cream  is  then  floated  and  pushed  with  the  cream  knife 
over  the  edge  of  the  pan  into  the  cream  jar.  This  will 
remove  enough  milk  with  the  cream  to  dilute  it  suflB- 
ciently.  Every  time  tjream  is  poured  into  the  jar  it 
should  be  stirred,  otherwise  there  will  be  danger  of  hav- 
ing white  specks  in  the  butter,  from  some  particles  of  dry 
cream  or  from  over-sour  curd  at  the  bottom. 

There  are  a  great  many  patented  methods  and  appar- 
atus for  setting  milk  for  cream.  Descriptions  of  these, 
however,  scarcely  fall  under  the  scope  of  this  work,  as 
all  of  them  have  good  points  which  secure  favor  from 
those  who  choose  and  use  them.  The  young  or  inex- 
perienced dairyman  should  be. cautious  about  deciding 
upon  any  permanent  fixtures  in  his  dairy  until  he  has 
had  some  opportunity  of  seeing  and  examining  them. 
As  every  dairyman  of  good  sense  and  judgment  should 
become  a  member  of  his  State  Dairymen's  Association, 
which  privilege  is  most  cheaply  secured  for  the  small 
sum   of  one  dollar  yearly,  and  should  faithfully  attend 


CREAM   AKD   ITS   PECULIARITIES.  259 

the  meetings  of  it,  he  will  have  ample  facilities  for  ac- 
quiring valuable  information  in  regard  to  these  systems 
of  setting  milk  referred  to.  And  understanding  the 
principles  involved  in  the  successful  pursuit  of  his 
business,  which  are  explained  in  tliis  work,  he  will  be 
vrell  able  to  exercise  his  judgment  in  regard  to  a  choice 
of  what  apparatus  he  may  desire  to  use. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

CREAM  AND  ITS  PECULIARITIES. 

We  have  seen  that  cream  consists  of  the  fatty  globules 
mixed  with  certain  proportions  of  other  parts  of  the  milk. 
These  proportions  vary  from  about  seventy-five  to  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  whole  quantity  of  cream.  But  there  is 
another  constituent  of  cream  which  is  most  important  to 
talve  cognizance  of.  It  is  a  most  serious  disturbing  ele- 
ment, producing  changes  in  cream  which  interfere  very 
much  with  the  process  of  churning  and  affecting  consid- 
erably the  quality  of  the  butter.  This  is  an  albuminous 
viscid  matter,  which  appears  on  examination  under  the 
microscope  to  contain  a  considerable  quantity  of  mem- 
branous or  cellular  animal  tissue,  very  well  described  by 
one  observer  as  a  ^'smeary  mass "  which  is  thrown  out  of 
the  milk,  and  adheres  to  the  sides  of  the  centrifugal 
creamer.  This  viscous  matter  appears  to  have  the  same 
chemical  effect  upon  milk,  and  cream  more  especially,  as 
animal  membrane  has  ;  viz.,  to  change  the  milk  sugar  to 
lactic  acid,  and  even  to  produce  a  certain  chemical  de- 
composition in  the  butter  made  from  the  cream.  The 
fact  that  the  use  of  the  centrifugal  separator  effects  the 
removal  of  this  disturbing  element  and  yields  the  cream 


260 


THE   dairyman's  MANUAL. 


perfectly  pure,  gives  a  still  greater  importance  to  this 
machine  than  would  the  mere  mechanical  separation 
of  the  cream  from  the  milk. 

The  differences  in  cream  which  necessarily  result  from 
its  mode  of  separation  from  the  milk  first  invite  atten- 
tion. These  were  not  brought  prominently  to  notice 
until  the  recent  investigations  of  Danish  dairy  experts 
made  public  the  comparisons  between  the  creams  separ- 
ated by  the  different  methods  in  use,  including  the  cream 
remaining  unseparated  in  the  milk  -as  well  as  the 
cream  taken  from  milk  transported  from  the  dairies  to 
creameries  by  railroad  or  wagon.  The  results  of  these 
experiments  for  a  whole  year  are  given  in  the  following 
table,  the  thirty-four-hour  setting  in  ice  being  taken  as 
the  standard: 


PBOPOBTION    OF 

BUTTBR 

TIBLD. 

1          CO   1          00 

MONTHS  OF 

1 

i 

1     Ice  34  hours 

Water  at  50 
Fahr.,  34  hoti 

Pans  84  hou 

^ 

s 

1 

April ...  93  1 

May 9-2.2 

June 94.4 

July — 

Anffust 94  8 

S'-pt-mber 94.7 

October 92.4 

November 91  5 

December 92 

Jaimarv 92.3 

February  92.4 

March...  93.1 


100  SI 
100  87. 
100  86. 


1  102 

7  97. 

8  98. 


113 
5  111 
4  109 


107. 
3  98, 
6    95. 


THE  CENTRirCGAL  HAS 

GIVKN  MORE  BUTTER 

PKB  CENT  than: 


•?5 


22.3  13 

i9.8;ii 

16     I  9 


9  40.5 
3  36.3 
6  26.2 


11.71  5  5 
14  2  12.7 
11.4  14  2 


100  86. 
1()0|84 
100  81, 
100  77 
100  79 
100179, 
100  83, 
100  78, 


5  97 
1  97 
8  102 
5  97 
5  101 
7  100 
4  101 
7  100 


2  109 

.5111 

1117 

120 

1119 

9-118 

.3  116 

.5jll4 


2  101 
61103 
6  113, 
2I115, 
6  115 
110, 

no 

108 


il^ 


15.11  9 
17.9  11, 

27.3  17 

31.4  20 
29.9  19, 
27.9  18 
25.8  16 
22.7  14 


2  26.2 
6  32.7 
6  43.7 
2  55.1 
6  51.11 

48 
2  39.41 
2  45.1: 


12.31  7.8 
14.4    S.3 


15.3 
21.4 
18.4 
10.9 
11.8 
13.6 


9M    100181.9    99. 8!ll4  6  107  2  23  8  14,3  41      14       7.1 


3.5 

4.5 

4 

6.4 

5.4 

5.6 


The  remarkable  difference  shown  by  these  experiments 
in  favor  of  the  "centrifuge"  is  in  great  part  due  to  the  re- 
moval of  the  viscous  portion  of  the  milk  which  tends  so 
much  under  other  circumstances  to  make  the  milk  im- 
pure and  difficult  to  manage. 


CREAM   AKD   ITS   PECULIARITIES.  261 

The  report  of  the  Director  summed  up  the  advantages 
of  the  centrifugal  separation  of  the  cream  an  follows  : 

1st.  The  transportation  of  milk  but  once  a  day,  which 
so  far  has  been  considered  impossible  in  our  butter  fac- 
tories. The  cost  of  transportation  of  the  milk  is  thus 
decreased  by  half.  It  is  no  small  item  in  favor  of  the 
centrifugal  plan. 

2d.  A  great  saving  of  time  in  skimming.  By  the 
old  method,  the  milk  required  thirty-six  hours  setting 
before  skimming.  By  this  new  system  10,000  pounds  of 
milk  will  yield  its  cream  in  four  or  five  hours,  and 
farmers  can  carry  back  their  skimmed  milk  at  once. 
Here  again  is  a  saving  of  time  and  temperature.  The 
longer  the  milk  has  to  remain  in  the  creamery,  the 
greater  is  the  risk  from  the  various  contingencies  to 
Avhich  it  is  liable,  and  in  proportion  as  it  is  quickly  ren- 
dered marketable  and  passed  out  of  dairymen's  hands 
are  these  lessened. 

3d.  More  thorough  skimming  and  greater  yield. 

4th.  The  centrifugal  allows  of  the  acidulation  of  the 
cream  being  brought  under  control.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  important  points  in  butter  making,  and  the 
only  means  of  producing  at  will  a  butter  sure  to  keep. 
It  is  also  the  means  of  obtaining  cream  of  uniform  ripe- 
ness, and  thus  enabling  us  to  churn  it  equally  clean. 

5th.  The  butter  obtained  is  purer  and  of  superior 
quality.  The  centrifugal  extracts  from  the  milk,  from 
the  cream  and  consequently  from  the  butter,  a  large 
amount  of  impurities  which  adhere  to  the  sides  of  the 
apparatus,  and  which   old   methods  could  not   remove. 

6th.  A  great  saving  of  ice.  This  is  an  important 
item;  as  the  best  results  from  the  centrifugal  are  obtained 
when  the  milk  is  used  soon  after  milking,  and  the 
amount  of  cream  averages  about  fifteen  per  cent  of  the 
milk.  As  by  this  method  nothing  but  the  cream  need 
be  cooled,  it  is  evident  that  there  will  be  a  saving  of 


262  THE   DAIRYMAJs-'s   MANUAL. 

eighty-five  ]1er  cent  of  the  ice  used  in  a  creamery  where 
the  "  Ice  System  "  is  employed. 

7th.  As  the  phmt  necessary  for  a  successful  creamery 
is  expensive,  economy  is  an  important  item.  By  sepa- 
rating the  cream  immediately  on  receipt  of  milk,  all 
room  necessary  for  vats  or  pans  is  saved,  except  for  a 
small  vat  for  heating  milk  and  a  cream  vat.  The  space 
necessary  for  the  centrifugal  is  very  small,  not  more  than 
four  by  eight  feet  for  the  large  size  machine.  The  ex- 
pense of  maintenance  is  also  greatly  reduced  by  doing 
away  with  the  large  pans,  and  other  appurtenances  now 
necessary. 

In  regard  to  the  behavior  of  the  cream  taken  from 
transported  milk,  the  following  experiments  were  made  : 

Eight  hundred  pounds  of  milk  were  taken,  of  which 
200  pounds  were  immediately  operated  upon  by  the  cen- 
trifuge, and  200  pounds  operated  on  after  having  been 
transported.  At  the  same  time  200  pounds  were  im- 
mediately set  in  ice  water,  and  200  pounds  set  in  ice 
water  after  having  been  transported,  both  of  the  lat- 
ter samples  remaining  in  the  ice  water  for  thirty-four 
hours.  For  the  centrifuge  experiments,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  transported  milk  had  been  placed  in  100- pound  cans 
and  driven  about  for  two  hours,  the  temperature  on  the 
return  averaging  not  quite  sixty-six  degrees  Fahren- 
heit. For  the  ice  water  experiment,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  milk  w^as  first  cooled  thirty  minutes  in  ice  water, 
and  then  was  driven  about  one  and  a  half  hours,  and  the 
temperature  on  the  return  was  a  little  over  sixty-three 
and  a  half  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

Now  in  these  experiments  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
centrifuge  had  been  able  to  separate  the  cream  from  th.e 
transported  milk  almost  as  well  as  that  from  the  samples 
not  transported  ;  the  proportional  figures  for  the  amounts 
of  butter  made  being  in  the  following  ratio  :  100  repre- 
senting that  from  milk  immediately  operated  in  the  cen- 


CREAM   AND   ITS   PECULrAEtTlES. 


263 


trifuge  ;  99.3  for  the  transported  milk,  and  98.9  for  the 
cooled  and  transported  milk.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  the  loss  of  butter  has  only  been  0.7  and  1.1  per  cent. 
But  for  the  ice  system  the  loss  of  butter  was  considerably 
more,  amounting  to  4.4  and  8.8  per  cent,  respectively, 
for  the  two  samples  referred  to  as  being  treated  under 
that  system. 

In  order  to  determine  more  definitely  the  relative  in- 
fluence exerted  on  the  rising  of  the  cream  on  account 
of  the  milk  being  transported,  or  from  being  cooled, 
a  series  ^f  experiments  were  made  in  a  creamery  con- 
ducted only  on  the  ice  system.  Part  of  the  milk  was 
placed  in  ice  water  immediately,  while  another  part 
after  having  been  left  standing  and  then  subjected  to 
transportation  was  also  placed  in  ice  water,  the  time  for 
skimming  being  the  same  for  both  samples.  The  point 
sought  to  be  determined  was  whether  the  shaking  or  the 
cooling  of  the  milk  during  the  drive  had  the  more  influ- 
ence in  arresting  the  creaming,  and  the  result  of  the  ex- 
periments will  be  found  in  the  following  table  : 

AVERAGE    FIGURES    FOR    AMOUNT    OF    BUTTER    AND    FOR    TEMPERATURE 
OF    MILK    WHEN    SET    IN    ICE. 


After  Driving. 


2Q 


I 


Tliirly-four    hours   skimming;    driven   2   honrs; 

3  trials -averasre  figures 100.00  95.00  96.50 

Tempeiatine-degreeBFahr |  82.82  63  68  64.22 

Thin y-f our  liours  i^kimmiiiL^  cnoleci  in  ice  1  hour;  I  I 

driven  or  standing   1i  hours;  4  trials;  average  I  I 

fi-nn-s         '..100  00  87.10  86.70 

T.mperaturo— degree*  F.ihr j  88.52  48.56  48  20 

Ten  hours  skimmini:-;  'cocl.-^d  with  ice   1    hour;  I  I 

diiven  or  standing  3^^  hours  ;  4  trials;  average'  I  I 

figures    |100.00  73.00 

Ttiuperature— degrees  Falir !  88  34  47  84| 


««     I  1 


II 


r 


.40  96  80 
.08  66.74 


70.60 
47.66 


The  milk  which  was  left  standing  was  placed  outside 
the  creamery,  while  the  other  samples  were  driven  about. 


264  THE  dairyma:n*s  makital. 

For  the  railroad  transport  the  milk  was  driveD  between 
the  creamery  and  depot,  taking  say  twenty  minutes, 
and  on  the  train  (for  the  first  column)  from  one  depot  to 
another  and  directly  back  again,  in  all  sixteen  miles ; 
and  for  the  last  column  in  all  forty -four  miles,  with  a 
waiting  time  between  of  one-half  hour. 

In  looking  over  the  result  as  indicated  in  the  preceding 
table,  the  question  occurs  whether  it  is  the  cooling 
which  the  milk  has  undergone,  in  connection  with  the 
time  that  has  passed  before  it  was  placed  in  ice,  that  is 
the  cause  of  the  loss  of  butter,  or  whether  it  is  the  driv- 
ing or  the  shaking  caused  by  driving.  But  this  last  did 
not  seem  to  have  any,  or  at  least  only  a  little,  influence, 
while  the  cooling  seems  to  have  been  the  principal  cause 
of  the  loss  of  butter,  which  loss  also  increases  with  .the 
cooling. 

In  the  following  table  of  figures  it  is  shown  that  the 
milk,  after  driving,  could,  by  heating,  be  brought  back 
almost  to  its  natural  condition,  so  far  as  cream  rising  is 
concerned.  Indeed,  it  was  jiroved  by  several  trials  that 
the  cooled  milk,  when  raised  to  a  temperature  near  the 
natural  heat  of  the  cow — say  100  degrees  Fahrenheit — 
exhibited  a  remarkable  change  in  the  separation  of  its 
cream,  and  this  influence  on  the  rising  of  the  cream 
from  heating  the  cooled  milk  led  to  experiments  in  heat- 
ing the  driven  milk  to  104  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  also 
heating  to  the  temperature  the  milk  generally  has  when 
it  comes  from  the  stable  to  the  dairy-house,  say  about 
eighty-six  degrees  Fahrenheit.  This  was  the  tempera- 
ture of  all  the  samples  of  milk  in  the  first  column  of  the 
table  ;  while  the  other  three  samples,  after  driving,  had 
the  temperature  of  the  column  marked  °  Fahrenheit. 
The  heating  of  the  samples  for  the  two  last  columns  to 
86  and  104  degrees  Fahrenheit  was  done  by  surrounding 
the  milk  with  warm  water  at  a  temperature  of  113  to  131 
degrees  Fahrenheit. 


CBEAM   AND   ITS   PECULIARITIES. 


205 


AVEKAGE     FIGTTEES     FOR     AMOUNT    OF    BUTTEE    AISD    TEMPERATURE    OP 
THE    DRIVEN   MILli. 

IN    ICE. 


Slaqelse  Creamery. 


After  J)ii,ving. 


Thirty-four  hours  skimming;  driven  2  hours;  6  triala. . .  lUO  95.7 
Thiriy-four  hours  skimming;   cooled  i  hour;   driven  1^ 

hours;  0  trials  in  April 100 

Tiiirty-four  hours  sUiinmiiig;  cooled  i  hour;  driven  H 

hours;  5  trials  in  March.   , 100 

Thiriy-lour  hours  skimming;   cooled  1  hour;  driven  H 

hours;  4  trials  in  April  and  May  100  86.7 

Ten  hours  skimming;   cooled  i^  hour;   driven  H  hours 

-4  trials . .    100 

Ten  hours  skimming ;  cooled  1  hour;   driven  3i  liour 

(railroad);   4  trials 100 


Rosen feldt. 

Thirty-four  hours  skimming:  cooled  \  hour  ;  driven  H 

honrs  ;   5  trials 


100 


91.0 
86.3 


83.3 
70.6 


89.4 


68.86 
54.50 

48  74 
48.20 
52.34 

49  66 

51.44 


97.2 
93.6 
92.9 

87.0 
90.0 


I 

98.6 
98.5 
99.0 
93.9 
97.7 
96.8 

95.6 


•  Some  of  these  columns  of  experiments  are  made  in 
connection  with  those  set  down  in  the  former  table,  and 
therefore  the  figures  in  the  second  column  do  not  give 
anything  new;  but  the  figures  in  the  columns  for  the 
heating  to  86  and  104  degrees  Fahrenheit,  show  that 
tlie  heating  to  86  degrees  certainly  does  some  good,  but 
not  much,  while  the  resistance  of  the  milk  for  cream- 
ing, caused  by  cooling  and  driving,  has  been  almost  en- 
tirely overcome  by  heating  it  to  a  temperature  of  104  de- 
grees Fahrenheit,  and  this  not  only  when  skimming  was 
done  after  the  milk  had  set  thirty-four  hours,  but  also 
when  skimming  was  done  after  ten  hours'  setting,  since 
the  loss  of  butter  for  the  milk  cooled  one  hour  and 
driven  three  and  a  half  honrs  is  decreased  from  29.4  per 
cent  for  the  cold  sample  to  3.2  per  cent  for  the  sample 
heated  to  104  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  in  the  last  column 
of  experiments  the  result  at  Rosenfeldt,  in  heating  the 
inilk  to  104  degrees  Fahrenheit,  was  not  as  favorable  as 


2W  THE 

at  Slaqelse,  but  the  milk  at  the  last  establishment  was 
all  taken  from  one  stable  adjoining  the  creamery,  and 
was  consequently  of  uniform  character  as  to  quality. 

These  experiments  show  that  there  is  an  important  ad- 
vantage obtained  in  the  quantity  of  butter  by  heating 
such  milk  to  10-i  degrees  Fahrenheit  before  setting 
aside  to  cream.  This  will  be  especially  the  case  where 
the  milk  before  or  during  transportation  is  reduced  to  a 
low  temperature,  as  in  cold  weather,  and  again  in  hot 
weather,  when  it  is  found  necessary  to  cool  the  milk  at 
the  farm  before  transportation,  in  order  that  it  may 
arrive  at  the  creamery  in  good  condition.  No  loss  from 
cooling  will  be  sustained  if  the  milk,  before  setting,  is 
raised  to  a  temperature  of  104  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

A  singular  peculiarity  was  observed  in  the  cream  from 
the  milk  which  had  been  cooled,  drive?!,  and  again  heated 
to  86  degrees  Falirenlieit.  While  by  exact  skimming  the 
quantity  of  cream  from  the  three  samples  was  nearly  the 
same  (namely,  sixteen  per  cent),  it  was  in  this  sample 
eighteen  per  cent,  and  the  time  required  for  churning 
had  been  almost  twice  as  long  for  the  samples  heated  to 
86  degrees  as  for  those  heated  to  104  degrees  Fahrenheit; 
and  this  was  the  case  whether  the  cream  was  churned 
sweet  or  sour.  Again,  the  cream  from  the  sample  of  milk 
heated  to  86  degrees,  though  it  weighed  most,  did  not 
appear  the  thinnest,  yielded  less  butter  than  that  from 
the  milk  heated  to  104  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  the 
cream  of  this  sample  also  appeared  thin. 

Some  remarkable  observations  were  made  in  churning 
siveet  cream.  By  the  centrifuge  experiments  it  was  no- 
ticed that  when  the  centrifuge  crenm,  after  its  separation 
from  the  milk,  was  from  58.1  to  60  degrees  Fahrenlieit, 
and  directly  afterwards  was  cooled  to  the  usual  churning 
temperature  of  57.2  degrees,  and  was  then  churned,  the 
yield  of  butter  was  about  seventeen  per  cent  less  than 
when  the  cream  was  first  cooled  to  33.8  degrees,  and  then 


CREAM   AND   ITS   PECULIARITIES.  267 

heated  to  57.2  degrees  and  churned.  A  cooling  to  46.4 
degrees  gave  about  the  same  result  as  cooling  to  33.8  de- 
grees. 

In  a  longer  series  of  experiments  afterward  undertaken 
at  Rosvang  with  cream  raised  in  shallow  pans,  partly  at  a 
temperature  below  55.4  degrees  and  partly  above  60.8 
degrees  Fahrenheit,  it  was  found  that  the  '^pan  cream," 
raised  in  temperature  below  55.4  degrees  Fahrenheit, 
made  a  yield  of  butter  only  2.3  per  cent  more,  when  the 
cream  was  coolod  by  ice  before  it  was  heated  to  churn- 
ing temperature  ;  while  of  the  samples  of  cream  raised  in 
over  60.8  degrees  temperature,  there  was  gained  19.2  per 
cent  of  butter  by  the  cooling.  Hence  in  practice  it  was 
found  advisable  during  hot  weather  to  cool  both  the 
*' centrifuge  cream"  and  the  ^^pan  cream"  with  ice. 

The  chemical  changes  which  occur  in  cream  are  pro- 
duced by  the  effect  of  oxidation,  and  the  results  of 
the  internal  decomposition  caused  by  the  breaking  up 
of  the  atoms  of  the  milk  sugar  (lactose)  in  the  milk  con- 
tained in^ihe-^'eam,  and  the  consequent  formation  of 
lactic  acid.  This  acid  is  a  viscous  substance,  and  has 
precisely  the  same  effect  upon  the  cream  as  a  solution 
of  gelatine  would  have,  and  when  cream  containing  a 
large  quantity  of  this  acid  is  churned  it  foams  and  be- 
comes beaten  up  into  a  still  finer  and  smoother  emul- 
sion but  will  never  make  butter.  This  effect  may  be 
thus   explained: 

The  milk  sugar  is  changed  to  lactic  (or  milk)  acid  by 
the  action  of  the  caseine  of  the  milk  in  a  manner  which 
is  as  yet  somewhat  obscure,  but  it  is  merely  a  changed 
position,  as  it  were,  of  the  elements  forming  each  of 
these  substances.  The  following  diagram  of  the  change 
is  given,  with  such  explanation  as  may  make  it  plain 
to  those  even  who  are  unacquainted  with  chemistry. 
x4n  atom  or  volume  of  sug  ir  of  milk  is  composed  ulti- 
mately of  twenty-four  atoms  of  carbon  and  twenty-four 


26S  THE  dairymaid's  MANUAL. 

atoms  of  water  ;  one  atom  or  volume  of  lactic  (or  milk) 
acid  is  composed  of  six  atoms  of  carbon  and  six  atoms  of 
water.  Using  the  chemical  symbols  for  these  ultimate 
components  we  have  : 

MUk  sugar  _  24C  +  24  H2O 
Lactic  acid  =6C  +  6H20 

If,  then,  one  volume  of  the  former  can  be  separated 
into  four  parts,  or  its  components  can  be  transposed,  we 
have  four  volumes  of  the  latter  ;  and  instead  of  one  vol- 
ume of  sugar,  or  sweet  substance,  we  have  four  of  an 
acid.  Here  is  no  infusion  of  a  new  element,  nothing 
is  added,  nothing  is  taken  away;  a  transposition,  ^'a 
shuffle  and  a  new  deal,"  if  it  may  be  so  expressed,  is 
made,  and  a  sweet  liquid  is  changed  into  an  acid  one. 
The  change  is  very  simple  to  one  who  is  accustomed  to 
consider  chemical  substitutions,  yet  its  important  effects 
are  typical  of  those  changes  which  are  continually  occur- 
ring in  milk  and  all  its  products. 

The  viscosity  of  cream  may  be  reduced  by  diluting  it 
with  water.  The  water  increases  the  bulk  of  the  viscous 
acid  milk,  and  so  releases  the  butter  globules  from  its  ad- 
hesive embrace  and  enables- the  butter  to  ^'  come."  This 
watering  process  may  be  used  for  tlie  recovery  of  cream 
which  is  too  acid  for  churning  or  which  has  been  churned 
without  bringing  butter.  Any  considerable  proportion 
of  water  may  be  added  to  the  cream  and  the  mixture  left 
for  the  cream  to  rise,  which  it  does  rapidly.  The  water 
is  then  drawn  of^  from  under  the  cream  and  more  water 
is  added  and  afterwards  removed.  The  cream  may  then 
be  churned  with  ease. 

Cream  so  washed  makes  butter  of  the  very  best  keep- 
ing quality.  The  spoiling  of  butter  is  due  to  those  ele- 
ments of  the  cream  which  causes  this  viscosity.  Some 
cream  may  contain  more  than  one  of  these  ;  viz.,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  acid  there  may  exist  the  peculiar  animal 
impurities    previously   mentioned,    whose   removal   will 


CREAM  AN"D   ITS   PECULIARITIES.  269 

very  much  improve  tlie  character  of  the  cream  and  but- 
ter, and  thus  this  washing  maybe  resorted  to  for  the  pur- 
pose of  freeing  over-sour  cream  from  taints  of  all  kinds. 

Much  has  been  written  about  churning  sweet  cream. 
There  is  an  unwritten  side  of  this  subject,  however, 
which  has  been  ignored  by  persons  who  have  ad.vocated 
this  practice,  but  which  should  be  noticed.  When  sweet 
■  cream  is  put  into  the  churn  and  violently  agitated,  the 
particles  are  separated  and  become  profusely  mixed-with 
air,  heat  is  also  generated,  and  the  process  of  oxidation 
is  rapidly  performed  ;  thus  in  effect  the  same  results  are 
attained,  only  in  a  longer  time  than  in  churning  sour  or 
*'ripe"  cream.  And  sweet  cream  requires  a  considerably 
longer  time  to  churn  than  cream  that  is  slightly  acid,  or 
in  the  best  condition  for  making  butter.  So  in  reality 
there  is  but  a  slight  difference  between  the  butter  made 
from  sweet  cream  after  its  long  churning,  and  the  acid 
or  rijDC  cream  ;  and  that  difference  is  in  favor  of  the  ripe 
creanii  tlueJ>Urtter-f rom  which  has  a  perfect  flavor  which 
that  from  sweet  cream  lacks. 

One  of  the  desirable  uses  of  cream  in  its  sweet  state  is 
for  making  clouted  cream,  a  delicious  article  of  food, 
a  substitute  for  butter,  or  a  condiment  for  fruit  and 
pastry.  It  is  made  as  follows  :  The  milk  having  stood 
in  shallow  pans  for  twelve  hours,  the  pans  of  milk  are  set 
upon  a  stove  or  heater  without  any  disturbance  of  the 
cream  and  are  gradually  brought  to  a  heat  of  180  de- 
gi'ees,  at  which  temperature  the  cream  becomes  slightly 
wrinkled  or  ''crinkled."  The  pans  are  then  put  back 
into  the  dairy.  In  twenty-four  hours  more  a  thick  solid 
skin  of  cream  is  thrown  up,  which  can  be  rolled  up  and 
lifted  off  from  the  milk  without  falling  apart.  This 
cream  is  then  sold  for  immediate  use  as  above  mentioned, 
or  is  made  into  cream  cheese,  or  is  churned  into  butter 
while  it  is  sweet.  The  butter  thus  made  has  a  flat  in- 
sipid flavor,  but  will  keep  good  a  long  time. 


270 

The  ripening  of  cream  for  the  churu  is  a  process  which 
requires  time  and  heat  in  definite  ratios.  That  is,  thirty- 
six  hours  and  sixty  degrees  of  temperature  are  required 
to  bring  the  cream  skimmed  from  perfectly  sweet  milk  to 
ithe  right  stage  of  acidity  for  churning.  If  the  milk  has 
been  kept  for  twelve  hours  after  it  has  -turned  distinctly 
'sour,  twenty-four  hours  will  be  enough  for  the  perfect 
ripening  of  the  cream  for  the  churn.  If  kept  longer 
than  this,  yiscosity  is  produced,  and  this  is  one  of  the 
early  stages  of  that  final  decomposition  of  the  milk  which 
produces  the  disagreeable  flavors  of  butter  arising  from 
the  formation  of  essential  oils.  These  oils  result  from  the 
decomposition  of,  first,  the  lactic  acid,  and,  second,  that 
of  the  caseine  which  may  remain  in  the  butter.  These 
changes  will  be  more  particularly  described  when  we 
come  to  consider  the  nature  of  butter.  But  as  this 
viscosity  in  the  cream  is  the  germ,  as  it  were,  by  which 
the  changes  are  set  in  progress,  its  production  is  to  be 
avoided  most  assiduously. 

The  right  stage  of  cream  for  churning  is  when  acid 
is  perceptible,  and  an  agreeable  aromatic  odor  is  given 
off  from  the  cream  jar.  This  is  reached  at  the  instant 
when  the  lactic  acid  begins  to  break  up  into  butjTic  acid 
by  a  simple  chemical  combination.  This  is  brought 
about  by  the  effect  of  the  caseine  which  has  previously 
changed  the  milk  sugar  into  milk  (lactic)  acid  and  now 
still  further  acts  upon  this  acid  to  transform  it.  Such 
action  is  accompanied  by  a  fermentation  in  which  car- 
bonic acid  and  hydrogen  with  some  water  are  evolved  and 
escape  from  the  cream,  and  one  and  a  half  atoms  of  lactic 
acid  are  wholly  decomposed  and  give  off  this  carbonic 
acid  and  water,  hydrogen  requiring  twelve  atoms  of 
oxygen  to  effect  the  change.  This  oxygen  is  taken 
from  four  other  atoms  of  lactic  acid,  which  is  by  this 
deprivation  converted  into  three  atoms  of  butyric  acid, 
the  substance  that    gives  the  aroma  to   butter  made 


CREAM   AXD    ITS   PECULIARITIES.  271 

from  fully  ripened  cream.  Butter  made  from  sweet  cream 
lacks  this  aroma  and  flavor,  and  must  be  kept  for  some 
time  to  acquire  it  by  an  internal  process  of  decomposi- 
tion, produced  from  the  slow  change  of  its  inherent  ele- 
ments in  much  the  same  way  as  here  described.  This 
ripening  process  is  analogous  to  that  of  fruits  in  which 
the  woody  fiber  of  the  hard,  crude,  unripe  fruit  changes 
to  the  pulp,  gum  and  sugar  of  the  fully  ripe  fruit.  To 
explain  this  let  us  take 

4  atoms  of  lactic  acid  =  C24H48O24 
3  atoms  of  butyric  acid  =  C24H480i2 

Leaving O12 

IVa  atoms  of  lactic  acid  =  C9  HigOa 
Adding da 


Then 


Produce 


C»  HieOai 

9  atoms  of  carbonic  acid  =  C®  —  Ojs 

12  atoms  of  hydrogen        ■=  —  H^  — 

3  atoms  of  water  =  _  He  O3 

C9  H18O21 

In  this  manner  the  change,  which  goes  on  by  an  in- 
ternal decomposition  and  breaking  up  of  an  unstable 
element  of  the  cream,  is  entirely  accounted  for.  But  it 
is  the  business  of  the  dairyman  to  watch  his  cream  and 
prevent  the  ripening  from  going  too  far  and  developing 
into  injurious  acidit3^  Hence  the  temperature  is  a  most 
important  thing  to  control  and  regulate,  for  if  it  is  in 
excess  of  the  normal  point,  time  is  to  be  reduced;  but  the 
careful  dairyman  will  not  work  by  ^^rule  of  thumb"  in 
so  serious  a  matter,  when  a  twenty-five  cent  thermometer 
will  act  as  a  safe  standard  and  guide  in  this  respect. 

K'ow  the  behavior  of  cream  in  the  churn  is  controlled 
by  this  element  of  rii^ening,  and  although  all  previous 
requisites,  feeding  and  perfect  cleanliness  in  manage- 
nient  in  the  cows,  skillful  milking  and  care  of  the  milk 


272  THE   dairyman's   MAJ^rUAL. 

up  to  this  point,  may  haye  been  secured,  yet  a  lapse  in 
this  will  spoil  all,  and  previous  success  be  obliterated. 

In  the  management  of  a  public  dairy  or  creamery, 
where  cream  is  purchased  of  numerous  patrons,  some 
test  of  quality  is  required  for  the  mterest  of  the  purchaser. 
There  has  always  been  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  intro-  - 
ducing  creameries  into  new  and  desirable  localities,  be- 
cause of  the  impossibility  of  making  a  just  division  of 
the  proceeds  among  the  patrons.  We  have  seen  how 
cream  varies  in  quality  and  contents  of  fat,  and  how 
some  cows'  milk  is  more  productive  than  that  of  others. 
But  in  the  creamery  all  the  cream  is  taken  by  measure, 
and  heretofore  there  has  been  no  precise  or  satisfactory 
method  of  determining  the  actual  value  of  the  cream 
taken  in,  for  the  yield  of  butter.  Every  patron  cast  into 
the  pool,  as  it  were,  so  much  weight  of  coin,  gold,  silver, 
nickel  or  copper,  and  each  received  the  same  pay  for  the 
tveight  only  of  his  contribution.  This  glaring  mjustice 
has  been  resisted  by  the  dairymen  who  keep  Jersey  or 
Guernsey  cows,  or  improved  and  costly  animals,  and 
who  feed  them  high  for  the  sake  of  the  profit.  Hence 
it  has  long  been  the  aim  of  owners  of  creameries  and 
of  manufacturers  of  creamery  supplies  to  find  some 
means  of  equalizing  the  amount  of  pay  with  the  actual 
amount  of  butter  in  the  cream  gathered.  After  many 
attempts  the  so-called  *'oil  test"  has  been  adopted. 

This  ^'oil  test"  is  simply  the  actual  churning  of  a 
sample  of  the  cream  gathered  from  each  dairy,  so  as  to 
ascertain  by  this  practical  test  the  quantity  of  fat  con- 
tained in  the  cream.  Each  patron  skims  his  own  cream 
and  prepares  it  for  the  collector.  He  may  safely  skim  it 
quite  close  and  take  the  thickest  cream,  or  he  may,  if 
so  immorally  disposed,  put  in  as  much  milk  or  water  as 
he  wishes,  to  thin  it  and  make  it  measure  more.  It  is 
all  the  same  to  the  cream  gatherer.  He  takes  the  cream, 
pours  it  into  his  own  measuring  can  and  notes  in  his  forms 


CREAM   ATS^D   ITS    PECULIARITIES.  273 

or  blanks  specially  provided  the  inches  and  tenths  in 
depth  by  his  rule.  He  then  thoroughly  stirs  the  cream 
and  takes  from  it  a  certain  quantity  in  a  marked  glass 
tube.  These  tubes  are  carefully  placed  in  a  frame  or 
card  provided  for  them,  each  marked  with  the  patron's 
number  for  identification.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent 
each  patron  from  taking  a  parallel  sample  and  testing 
it  for  himself,  and  everyone  should  do  this  for  his  own 
sake  and  satisfaction. 

On  arrival  at  the  creamery  the  cards  of  tubes  are  handed 
over  to  the  manager  with  the  cream  gathered  all  in  bulk. 
This  bulking  and  mixing  of  the  cream  is  indispensable 
for  the  production  of  an  even  quality  of  butter.  The 
cards  of  tubes  are  set  away  to  be  properly  ripened, 
and  are  then  put  into  a  frame  in  a  churn  specially  pro- 
vided for  them.  The  cream  is  churned  by  oscillating 
the  frame  rapidly  till  the  butter  comes  in  all  the  samples. 
When  this  is  done  the  tubes  are  all  set  in  water  hot 
enough  to  melt  the  butter — about  150  degrees.  When 
fully  melted,  the  butter  or  oil  rises  to  the  top  and  shows 
a  distinct  line  from  the  buttermilk,  so  that  its  depth  can 
be  accurately  measured.  This  done,  the  manager  pro- 
ceeds to  determine  the  depth  of  the  oil,  and  to  record 
the  results  in  the  blank  form  partly  filled  out  by  the 
collector.  The  measuring  is  done  by  applying  to  the 
oil  a  scale  having  for  a  unit  of  measure  the  depth  of  oil 
that  corresponds  to  one  pound  of  butter  from  a  gauge  of 
cream,  or  a  pound  for  each  inch  in  depth  of  cream  in  a 
vessel  just  one  foot  in  diameter.  This  unit  of  measure 
is  graduated  into  100  equal  parts.  If  the  depth  of  the 
oil  is  exactly  equal  to  one  unit  of  measure,  the  cream 
from  which  the  sample  was  taken  will  yield  just  one 
pound  of  butter  to  the  inch  or  gauge  ;  if  it  overruns  or 
falls  short  of  the  unit  of  measure,  the  yield  per  gauge 
will  overran  or  fall  short  just  according  to  the  number 
of  hundredths  it  varies  one  way  or  the  other.     A§  he 


274  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

measures  the  oil  the  manager  sets  down  the  rate  per  inch 
in  the  collector's  blank,  and  by  multijilying  the  inches 
of  cream  by  the  rate  per  inch,  fills  out  the  last  two 
columns  with  the  weight  of  butter  due  to  each  patron's 
cream.  It  seems  to  be  difficult  to  get  any  more  satisfactory 
test  than  this,  because  the  dairyman  can  duplicate  it  by 
procuring  a  set  of  the  marked  tubes  and  using  them  for 
himself. 

A  few  lines  may  be  usefully  devoted  to  the  subject  of 
the  value  of  cream  in  the  market  as  food,  and  as  a  medic- 
inal agent  for  the  nutrition  of  dyspeptics  and  consump- 
tive patients.  The  use  of  fatty  emulsions  in  medicine  is 
very  extensive,  cod  liver  oil  being  the  material  used 
because  of  its  close  similarity  in  composition  to  the  fats 
of  the  human  body.  Butter  fat,  as  it  exists  in  cream, 
however,  is  identical  in  composition  with  human  fats. 
As  the  fat  of  cream  is  in  a  state  of  already  prepared 
emulsion  and  perfectly  fitted  for  digestion  and  assimila- 
tion, cream  becomes  a  most  valuable  article  of  food  and 
of  wholesome  nutriment  for  persons  of  weak  digestion 
and  assimilation.  The  producer  of  any  useful  food  sub- 
stance should  make  himself  fully  acquainted  with  every 
valuable  characteristic  of  it,  and  this  most  useful  purpose 
to  which  cream  may  be  applied  should  not  be  ignored 
by  dairymen.  No  doubt  if  some  enterprising  dairyman, 
able  and  willing  to  do  it,  should  put  pure  sweet  cream 
upon  the  market  in  sealed  cans  or  bottles,  he  would  find 
a  most  remunerative  demand  for  his  product. 


CHURKING   Ais'D  CHURITS.  275 

CHAPTER  XX. 
CHURNING   AND    CHURNS. 

The  process  of  churning  is  a  very  simple  one.  From 
what  has  been  previously  stated  in  regard  to  the  physical 
character  of  milk  and  cream — the  nature  of  the  minute 
globules  of  butter  fat  suspended  in  the  cream;  the  chemi- 
cal composition  of  milk  and  cream,  and  the  changes  which 
occur  in  these  substances  as  the  process  of  decomposition 
begins  and  proceeds;  the  results  of  changes  of  temperature 
upon  the  cream  and  the  progress  of  this  decomposition, 
with  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  observance  of  perfect 
cleanliness  all  through  the  work  of  the  dairy — it  may  be 
easily  understood  that  a  certain  carefulness  of  manage- 
ment, up  to  the  point  when  the  cream  is  put  into  the 
churn  and  the  process  of  churning  is  begun,  is  strictly 
indispensable  for  the  production  of  good  butter. 

Let  us  repeat  in  a  few  words  some  simple  rules  for  the 
guidance  of  the  dairyman  in  his  work  up  to  this  point, 
w4ien  a  new  departure  is  undertaken. 

First. — The  best  cows  should  be  procured,  and  they 
should  be  well  bred,  well  fed,  well  lodged,  and  kept 
thoroughly  clean  and  comfortable,  contented  and  happy. 

Second. — The  milk  should  be  drawn  in  the  most 
cleanly  manner,  thoroughly  strained,  and  carried  at  once 
to  the  milk -house,  where  it  is  set  in  a  pure  atmosphere 
at  a  temperature  of  forty-five  degrees  for  deep  setting 
and  sixty  to  sixty-two  degrees  for  shallow  setting. 
.  Third. — Twenty-four  hours  is  long  enough  for  the 
milk  to  stand  in  deep  pails,  and  thirty-six  hours  for  shal- 
low pans,  before  the  cream  is  removed,  and  under  the 
above  rules  the  milk  should  be  perfectly  sweet  at  the 
skimming. 


276 

Fourth.— The  cream  should  be  kept  twenty-four  to 
thirty-six  hours  at  a  temperature  of  sixty  degrees ;  but 
no  longer  tlian  until  it  is  slightly  acid,  the  time  being 
wholly  immaterial.  This  condition  of  the  cream  is  the 
important  point  to  be  watched  with  extreme  carefulness, 
whatever  the  time  or  temperature  ;  but  those  above  men- 
tioned will  be  found  to  secure  the  desired  result  as  a  rule. 

j^'ifih. — Every  utensil  used  in  the  processes  up  to  this 
point  should  be  of  tin  and  kept  scrupulously  clean. 

^'j>^A.— Whenever  fresh  cream  is  added  to  the  jar  the 
whole  should  be  stirred,  to  secure  a  thorough  mixture  of 
the  whole,  that  all  may  ripen  evenly. 

The  careful  observance  of  these  six  rules Vill  bring  the 
cream  to  the  churn  in  the  right  condition  for  making 
butter  in  the  best  manner.  The  French  have  a  proverb 
to  the  effect  that  ''one  who  excuses,  accuses  himself." 
This  should  be  adopted  as  a  guiding  rule  in  the  dairy; 
for  whenever  anything  goes  wrong,  and  an  excuse  that 
this  or  that  is  the  reason  for  it,  the  dairyman  accuses 
himself  of  some  mistake,  neglect,  or  ignorance,  and  one 
is  as  blamable  as  another.  Accidents  should  never  (or 
hardly  ever,  for  we  are  all  weak  creatures  at  the  best), 
occur^  in  the  dairy;  constant  vigilance  is  the  price  of 
safety  from  these  blunders  called  accidents,  ill-luck,  etc. 

The  churn  is  next  to  be  considered.  And  there  are 
churns  and  churns,  1,200  or  more  of  them;  but  not 
more  than  a  dozen  in  use.  Perhaps  no  more  painful 
instance  of  the  waste  of  energy,  thought,  time,  and 
money  exists  in  the  history  of  mankind,  than  is  shown 
by  the  collection  of  models  of  useless  churns  stored  in 
the  Patent  Office  lumber-room  at  Washington.  And  yet 
they  come,  more  futile  efforts  to  get  something  for 
nothing,  and  to  annihilate  time  or  power  in  futile  at- 
temptsto  produce  a  certain  mechanical  effect  by  the  use 
of  unavailing  substitutes. 

Churning  is  a  mechanical  effect,  the  simple  aggrega- 


CHURNING   AND   CHURNS.  27'}' 

tion  of  the  butter  globules  into  masses  by  throwing 
them  violently  together.  There  is  now  no  caseous 
follicle  to  be  rubbed  off  by  pressure  of  the  dasher  and 
squeezing  the  globules  between  a  close-fittiug  dash  and 
the  sides  of  the  churn.  No  weary  woman  need  now  keep 
on  an  exhaustive  effort  to  effect  this  wearing  away  a 
tough  envelope,  hour  after  hour,  with  the  laborious  up 
and  down  churn  (most  injurious  to  the  vital  organs  of  a 
female),  because  the  follicle  has  no  longer  any  existence, 
even  in  the  imagination  of  the  dairy  experts,  and  because 
she  may  sit  at  ease  in  a  chair  and  get  the  very  best  of 
butter  in  twenty  minutes,  or  less,  if  she  choose. 

What  we  know  of  cream  now  makes  the  work  of  the 
churn  plain  and  simple.  Most  of  the  work  heretofore 
supposed  to  be  necessarily  done  in  the  churn  is  now  per- 
formed previously.  There  is  no  chemical  action  to  be 
secured  by  aeration  and  oxidation;  the  churning  might, 
in  fact,  be  quite  as  well  performed  in  an  air-tight  closed 
box,  were  it  not  that  the  fric- 
tion of  the  particles  of  cream 
affects  the  production  of  more 
lactic  acid  and  the  decomposi- 
tion of  some  of  it  into  butyric 
acid,  with  the  disengagement 
of  some  carbonic  acid  and  hy- 
drogen gases,  as  was  explained 
in  the  last  chapter.  These  gases 
require  a  vent,  and  hence  an 
opening  in  the  churn  is  pro-  Fig.  50.— microscopic appear- 

•  T      -1         T    •    T      .         1  IT  1  ANCE  OF  CREAM. 

vided  which  is  closed  by  a  cork 

or  peg,  excepting  as  this  is  taken  out  to  Jet  the  gas  escape 
at  the  early  period  of  the  churning.  This  chemical  ac- 
tion, however,  is  incident  to  the  churning,  and  is  not  one 
of  the  effects  desired  or  calculated  for.  The  sole  effect 
is  to  throw  the  particles  of  fat  in  the  cream  against  each 
other  so  as  to  cause  them  to  adhere. 


278 


THE   DATRYMAN^S  MAlfUAt. 


A  study  of  the  illustration  (figure  50)  will  clearly 
explain  the  mechanical  effect  of  the  churning.  It  repre- 
sents a  sample  of  thick  cream  taken  from  a  Cooley  pail 
after  the  milk  had  stood  forty-eight  hours  and  the  cream 
had  consolidated  until  it  had  fifty  per  cent  of  butter  in 
it  (a  quart  of  it  made  two  pounds  of  butter),  and  was 
almost  of  the  consistence  of  clouted  cream.  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  globules  of  butter  have  gathered  into 
masses,  each  mass  forming  a  nucleus  for  a  larger  aggre- 


Fig.  51. — GRANULAR  BUTTER  AS  IT  COMES  FROM  THE  CHURN. 

gation.  This  particular  lot  of  cream,  eighteen  and  a  half 
pounds  in  weight,  was  prepared  for  churning  to  ascertain 
the  time  required.  It  is  easily  seen  that  cream  such  as 
this  might  be  supposed  to  churn  very  quickly,  because 
the  butter  globules  had  already  come  together  in  con- 
siderable loose  masses.  The  butter  was  made  and  taken 
from  the  churn  in  the  form  shown  at  figure  51,  in 
eight  and  a  half  minutes,  the  churn  used  being  the  Kec- 


CfltTRKlNG  AKD  CSUH^^S. 


^79 


tangular,  a  section  of  wliicli  is  shown  at  figure  52  (c), 
for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  actual  process  of 
churning. 

When  cream  is  first  put  into  the  churn  it  is  violently 
agitated.  But  the  amount  and  force  of  the  agitation 
varies  with  the  kind  of  churn  used.  The  common  dash 
churn  (figure  52,  a)  is  operated  by  a  flat  dasher  which 
is  forcibly  moved  up  and  down  in  the  cream,  causing  a 
motion  of  the  cream  in  the  way  indicated  by  the  lines. 
The  cream  is  forced  from  the  center  of  the  churn  to  the 


Fig.  52.— EFFECTS  OF  CHUKNINGS. 

sides,  over  the  edge  of  the  dasher  and  back  to  the  cen- 
ter, where  it  meets  the  cream  from  opposite  sides,  and 
thus  it  is  dashed  together.  Being  unconfined,  however, 
the  force  of  the  collision  is  very  much  lessened,  and  the 
cream  escapes  in  spray  or  waves  which  rebound  from 
the  sides  of  the  churn  and  fall  back. 

At  Z»,  in  the  same  figure,  is  a  representation  of  the 
liorizontal  dash  chnrn,  of  which  the  well-known  Blanch- 
ard  churn  is  a  popular  type.     The  bottom  of  most  of 


280  THE   DAIRYMAK^S   MANUAL. 

these  churDS,  however,  is  rounded  and  not  square,  for 
the  sake  of  more  easy  cleaning.  This  advantage,  how- 
ever, we  think  is  gained  at  the  expense  of  effect,  but  it 
accords  witli  the  popular  preference.  In  this  kind  of 
churn,  when  it  is  not  filled  quite  so  high  as  the  axle, 
the  dasher  comes  down  upon  the  cream  with  a  sudden 
impact  and  forces  it  into  close  contact  as  it  is  thrown  by 
the  arm  against  the  top  and  opposite  side  of  the  churn. 
The  dasher  being  partly  open  permits  part  of  the  cream 
to  pass  through  and  complicates  the  agitation. 

At  c  is  a  section  of  the  Rectangular  churn,  a  square 
box  mounted  on  gudgeons  at  the  opj^osite  angles.  The 
cream,  never  more  than  to  half  fill  the  churn,  is  most 
violently  dashed  against  the  sides  of  this  churn  as  it  is 
rotated  by  the  handle  ;  and  as  the  box  is  hung  by  oppo- 
site corners,  the  cream  comes  twice  into  collision  with 
each  of  these  six  sides,  being  dashed  against  one  and  re- 
bounding to  the  other  to  be  forced  instantly  against  the 
next  one,  and  so  on  continually.  As  the  rotation  is  made 
about  eighty  times  in  a  minute,  there  are  no  less  than 
960  distinct  blows  given  to  the  cream  in  this  short  pe- 
riod. Consequently  the  butter  is  quickly  brought  to  the 
granular  condition  in  this  churn  ;  on  one  occasion  the 
churning  being  fully  completed  by  the  author  in  five 
minutes. 

The  violent  dashing  of  the  cream  brings  the  globules 
of  butter  into  collision,  and  when  the  temperature  is 
quite  right,  and  the  globules  are  consequently  in  an  ad- 
hesive condition,  thej  rapidly  gather  into  small  masses, 
and  these  into  larger  ones,  until  the  butter  appears  in 
grains  like  those  of  wheat  and  buckwheat,  when  the 
churning  is  completed.  Any  further  churning  is  in- 
jurious to  the  butter.  If  the  temperature  of  the  cream 
is  too  lov/,  and  the  butter  globules  are  consequently  too 
hard,  they  will  not  adhere  together;  they  may  gather 
into  masses  by  the  force  of   cohesion,   as  is  shown  in 


CHURKIKG  AKD   CHURNS.  281 

figure  50,  in  which  the  attraction  of  the  globules  for 
each  other  has  caused  the  aggregation  of  most  of  them 
into  masses,  but  the$e  masses  will  break  apart  again  and 
the  butter  will  appear  as  grains  of  sand  washing  baek 
and  forth  in  the  buttermilk,  but  refusing  to  be  collected 
any  more  closely  together. 

If  the  temperature  is  too  high  and  the  butter  is  too 
soft,  the  globules  may  gather  into  masses,  but  are  beaten 
apart  again  and  may  even  be  broken  up  more  finely  than 
when  in  their  natural  condition,  and  so  form  a  smooth 
viscous  emulsion  which  is  beaten  into  a  foaming  mass 
from  which  it  is  in  vain  to  try  to  procure  butter.  The 
normal  temperature  for  churning  cream  is  sixty  to  sixty- 
two  degrees,  but  this  may  vary  either  way  with  the 
weather.  In  winter  sixty-five  or  seventy  degrees  may 
be  permitted,  and  in  hot  weather  fifty-nve  degrees  may 
be  right.  In  case  of  difficulty  in  either  direction,  water, 
cold  or  warmed,  as  the  condition  of  the  cream  may 
need,  may  be  added  to  the  cream  in  the  churn  to  remove 
the  trouble  and  bring  the  batter.  When  the  cream  is 
too  sour,  and  is  thick  and  adhesive  and  foams  in  tlie 
churn,  the  addition  of  water  is  sufficient  to  obviate  the 
impediment  to  the  churning,  by  thinning  the  mass  and 
reducing  the  viscosity  of  it. 

When  the  butter  appears  in  the  churn  in  small  grains 
or  pellets  the  churning  should  stop.  One  can  very  soon 
learn  to  recognize  the  sound  made  by  the  churn  when 
butter  has  come  ;  yet  it  is  well  to  have  some  other  guide, 
and  this  is  easily  secured  by  fitting  a  piece  of  plate-glass 
in  the  cover  of  the  churn.  When  the  butter  has  come 
the  glass  will  become  very  nearly  clear,  and  the  small 
fragments  of  butter  may  be  seen  upon  it.  Over-churn- 
ing has  the  effect  of  injuring  the  texture  of  the  butter, 
and  changing  the  waxy,  almost  crystalline  appearance 
into  a  soft,  greasy  one.  When  the  butter  is  in  the  best 
condition  after  churning,  it  appears  as  a  mass  of  small 


2^-i  ME  DAiRYMAN^S  MANUAL. 

granules  loosely  adhering  together,  but  which  easily  fall 
apart  when  floated  in  cold  water.  These  granules  are  no 
no  larger  than  the  capsules  of  beet  seed,  and  many  of 
them  are  not  more  than  half  or  a  quarter  as  large,  and 
when  some  cold  water  is  poured  into  the  churn  to  harden 
them,  they  are  kept  separate  and  do  not  adhere  in  a  mass. 

The  prmcipal  complaints  of  the  behavior  of  the  cream 
in  the  churn  are — difficulty  of  procuring  the  butter ; 
foaming  of  the  cream ;  white  specks  in  the  butter ; 
soft,  white  butter ;  and  waste  of  cream  in  the  butter- 
milk. These  troubles  may  arise  from  improper  feeding 
of  the  cow  ;  from  too  long  keeping  of  the  cream  ;  from 
keeeping  the  cream  at  too  low  a  temperature ;  from 
churning  at  too  low  a  temperature  ;  and  from  the  condi- 
tion of  the  cow.  I  will  consider  them  one  by  one,  as 
these  are  yery  frequent  causes  of  complaint,  especially 
by  inexperienced  dairymen  and  in  family  dairies. 

When  the  butter  will  not  come,  the  dairywoman  may 
work  for  hours  and  all  her  labor  may  be  spent  in  vain, 
unless  she  is  told  to  raise  the  temperature  of  the  cream 
by  throwing  into  the  churn  a  quantity  of  water.  On 
one  occasion  in  churning  a  lot  of  cream  which  w^as  full 
of  small  butter  the  butter  would  not  gather,  the  cream 
being  smooth  and  somewhat  stiff.  To  test  the  case  the 
churning  was  continued  for  seven  hours,  and  still  the  cream 
was  unchanged.  The  temperature  was  sixty-two  degi-ees. 
A  few  quarts  of  water,  sufficient  to  raise  the  temperature 
to  sixty-five  degrees,  were  turned  in,  and  in  two  minutes 
the  butter  gathered,  but  it  was  white  and  of  bad  flavor. 
This  was  in  the  winter.  Over-churning  had  added  six 
months  to  its  age,  for  the  excessive  exposure  to  the  air 
in  the  long  churning  had  been  equivalent  to  several 
months'  keeping  in  the  pail  and  had  utterly  spoiled  the 
quality.  But  the  low  temperature  was  not  tlie  real  cause 
of  the  trouble,  for  the  next  churning,  noted  exactly  be- 
cause it  was  made  in  a  new  churn,  was  at  a  temperature 


CHtJRKl2fG  AKi)  CHXTRKS.  283 

of  sixty-two  degrees,  and  the  butter  came  in  eleven  min 
utes.  The  next  churning  was  at  sixty-fiye  degrees  and  but- 
ter came  in  eight  minutes.  So  that  it  could  not  have  been 
the  temperature  at  which  the  cream  was  churned  ;  but — 
as  it  was  on  January  3d,  and  the  weather  had  been  very 
cold,  the  cream-cellar  having  been  down  to  forty  degrees 
for  several  days — it  was  the  low  temperature  at  which 
the  cream  had  been  kept  that  caused  the  difficulty. 
Cream  that  is  kept  at  a  temperature  of  at  least  fifty-five 
to  sixty  degrees,  and  not  more  than  three  days,  may 
always  be  churned  in  thirty  minutes  at  a  temperature 
of  sixty-two  to  sixty-five  degrees,  if  the  churn  is  a 
good  one,  and  in  the  best  churns  butter  will  come  in 
from  ten  to  twenty  minutes. 

Foaming  of  cream  in  the  churn  may  be  due  to  too  low 
or  too  high  a  temperature,  or  too  long  keeping ;  slow, 
delayed  churning  is  often  accompanied  by  foaming.  As 
soon  as  the  churning  begins,  air  is  rapidly  intermingled 
with  the  cream  and  innumerable  vesicles  are  formed,  each 
containing  air.  This  expands  the  cream  (as  in  whipped 
cream  for  cooking),  and  it  is  really  foaming  ;  but  under 
proper  circumstances  this  foaming  subsides  as  rapidly, 
and  the  noiseless  motion  of  the  churn  quickly  changes  to 
a  *•' slap-dash"  sound,  w^hich  precedes  the  more  sharply 
liquid  sound  of  the  coming  butter.  If  the  cream  is  too 
warm  for  the  particles  of  butter  to  unite,  the  emulsion 
(foaming)  continues  until  the  remedy — a  decrease  of 
temperature  by  addition  of  cold  water — is  applied.  But 
this  emulsion  may  be  formed  in  another  way,  and  is 
often  thus  formed  in  the  summer,  by  too  long  standing 
of  the  cream  on  the  milk,  or  too  long  keeping  of  the 
cream  before  it  is  churned.  The  cause  of  it  is  the  for- 
mation of  alcohol  in  the  milk  by  the  decomposition  of 
the  milk  sugar,  and  the  combination  of  the  alcohol  with 
the  fat  and  the  formation  of  a  soap.  When  this  happens 
no  amount  of  churning  will  bring  the  butter.     It  may 


284  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

be  expected  when,  on  skimming  the  cream  from  the  milk, 
a  layer  of  whey-like  or  watery  liquid  is  seen  to  have  been 
formed  between  the  milk  and  the  cream,  and  the  milk  is 
thick  and  loppered  under  it.  To  prevent  the  trouble, 
half  a  teaspoonful  of  baking  soda  or  saleratus  may  be 
stirred  in  the  cream  pot  when  the  cream  has  been  poured 
into  it ;  and  this  should  always  be  done,  when  this  has 
occurred,  at  least  one  day  before  the  cream  is  churned. 
The  washing  of  the  cream  previously  described  will  also 
remove  the  cause  of  this  trouble. 

White  specks  in  the  butter  are  the  result  of  a  too  rapid 
souring  of  the  milk  or  of  keeping  the  cream  in  too  warm 
a  place  and  not  stirring  it  every  day  when  fresh  cream  is 
added  to  it.  When  fresh  cream,  with  milk  mixed  with 
it,  comes  in  contact  with  the  sour  cream,  this  milk  is 
immediately  curdled  and  the  small  flakes  of  curd  become 
inclosed  in  masses  of  cream.  When  the  cream  is  churned 
these  hardened  flakes  of  curd  become  mixed  with  the 
granules  of  butter  and  cannot  be  separated  from  them 
by  washing.  .  Coloring  will  not  disguise  this  fault,  for 
the  curd  w411  not  take  the  color  as  the  cream  Avill  ; 
the  coloring  is  prepared  either  with  potash  or  oil,  sind 
either  of  these  easily  unite  with  the  butter,  while  they 
will  not  mix  with  curd.  ,  The  only  cure  for  this  defect 
is  prevention,  by  care  in  managing  the  cream.  But  some- 
times these  specks  may  be  caused  by  small  particles  of 
dry,  hard  cream  from  the  sides  of  pans  when  the  milk 
has  been  kept  too  long.  Or  the  milk,  from  some  condi- 
tion of  the  cow,  may  contain  an  excess  of  albumen,  which 
is  quickly  coagulated  by  a  very  low  condition  of  acidity, 
and  thus  these  small  masses  of  albumen  appear  as  soft 
specks  in  the  butter. 

Soft,  white  butter  is  caused  by  uneven  temperature  in 
the  dairy  and  by  tlie  freezing  of  the  cream  or  the  milk, 
as  well  as  by  the  food  given  to  the  cows.  Some  kinds 
of  food  will  spoil  the  best  cows  as  regards  the  quality 


CHURN'ING   AND   CHURITS.  285 

of  the  butter,  for  the  time  being,  and  all  such  should 
be  discarded  from  the  dairy.  Potatoes,  fed  raw,  have 
this  effect,  with  the  addition  of  a  disagreeable  flavor; 
and  buckwheat  bran  or  meal  has  a  very  distinct  effect  in 
this  way.  A  week's  feeding  of  buckwheat  bran  will  pro- 
duce butter  of  the  texture  and  color  of  lard.  But  just 
here  it  is  a  question  of  management  of  the  cream  rather 
than  of  feeding  that  is  to  be  considered.  It  is  of  impor- 
tance that  everything  about  a  dairy  should  be  regular 
and  unchangeable.  And  in  the  care  of  the  dairy,  tem- 
perature is  one  of  the  essential  conditions.  If  this  is 
neglected  and  the  cream  is  permitted  to  freeze,  the  but- 
ter will  be  white  and  soft,  or  sometimes  crumbly  and 
break  into  small  fragments.  The  color  may  be  made 
right  by  the  addition  of  coloring,  but  the  soft  texture 
will  remain  and  the  butter  will  lose  its  proper  waxiness 
and  become  greasy,  and  this  is  beyond  remedy.  The 
cause  must  be  prevented  by  providing  some  means  of 
warming  the  dairy  to  keep  the  temperature  even. 

Waste  of  cream  in  the  buttermilk  is  the  effect  of  too 
long  keeping,  and  not  stirring  the  cream  to  secure  even- 
ness of  condition.  When  the  cream  is  turned  out  into 
the  churn,  if  the  bottom  is  watery  and  has  a  peculiar 
sweet  and  whey-like  smell,  that  part  of  the  cream  will 
foam  and  form  an  emulsion,  and  will  not  mingle  with 
the  butter.  When  the  butter  is  removed  from  the  churn, 
this  remains  in  the  buttermilk,  and  after  standing  some 
time  will  appear  as  an  oily  substance  on  the  surface. 
Some  persons  have  supposed  that  the  mixing  of  different 
cows'  milk,  or  the  cream  from  such  milk,  produces  such 
a  waste  as  this,  because  when  one  portion  of  the  cream 
is  churned  another  is  not.  The  author  has  carefully 
investigated  this  point  for  some  years,  but  has  never 
found  any  evidence  tending  to  support  it  until  the  recent 
publication  of  some  experience  by  a  person  who  stated 
that  he  had  churned  the  cream  of  several  cows  separately, 


286  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

and  then  mixed,  and  the  result  was  a  "very  marked  loss 
in  the  mixed  cream.  The  loss  was  so  enormous  that 
some  error  might  be  suspected,  and  at  any  rate  nothing 
has  ever  been  found  to  support  this  stateinent.  On  the 
contrary,  it  has  been  found  many  times  that  the  cream 
of  a  cow,  which  by  itself  required  thirty  minutes  to 
churn,  was  made  into  butter  in  twelve  minutes  when 
churned  with  that  of  another  cow  whose  cream  always 
churned  rapidly.  A  great  many  trials  of  cow^s  by  churn- 
ing their  cream  separately  and  then  with  that  of  others 
never  yet  showed  any  loss.  This  result  is  reasonable;  for 
when  we  consider  how  butter  is  gathered  in  the  churn 
and  one  particle  collects  with  itself  other  particles  until 
small  granules  of  butter  are  formed,  and  these  gather 
into  larger  grains  by  their  natural  cohesiveness,  it  is 
impossible  to  believe  that  the  butter  of  one  cow  can  re- 
main in  the  churn  by  itself  without  mixing  with  the 
rest,  or  that  if  it  did  it  would  not  leave  such  very  ap- 
parent traces  of  itself  in  the  buttermilk  that  it  could 
not  be  lost.  If  any  cream  is  lost  it  cannot  happen 
in  this  way  without  palpable  evidence ;  but  it  is  lost 
frequently  by  mismanaging  the  cream  in  the  manner 
previously  indicated.  The  cream  is  then  found  floating 
on  the  buttermilk,  but  it  is  not  in  such  a  condition  that 
it  can  be  made  into  butter  of  good  quality. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

BUTTER. 

When  the  butter  is  brought  to  the  granular  condition 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter,  it  goes  through 
the  first  operations  by  which  it  is  prepared  for  use  and 
market.  The  most  important  of  these  is  the  separation 
of  the  buttermilk,  which,  from  its  character,  is  a  very 


BUTTER.  ^^^ 


potent  element  of  decomposition   and  ^°"ld    oon    po.l 
Ihe  butter.     Buttermilk  is  a  thick  viscous  fluid  contam- 
Ja  lar.e  quantity  of  lactic  acid,  and  we  have  seen 
hoi  thisltcid  not  only  rapidly  changes  into  produc 
injurious   to  butter,  but  it  contains   caserne    .hichs 
another  element  of  destructive  change  in  the  b  tte 
This  will  be  more  fully  treated  of  further  on   but  is 
m  ntioned  here  to  impress  upon  the  butter-maker    he 
very  great  importance  of  getting  rid  of  every  part  ck 
If  th!  buttermilk.     The  granular  form  of  the  but  er 
very  much  facilitates  this  separation  of  the  buttermilk, 
and  if  the  churning  is  stopped,  as  it  shoiild  be  when  «ie 
butter  is  no  larger  than  grains  of  wheat  or  buckwheat 
the  buttermilk  is  drawn  off  and  cold  water  is  poured 
into  the  churn.     The  churn  is  moved  back  and  forth  a 
few  times,  and  the  milky  water  is  drawn  ofi  ;  more  water 
is  then  used,  and  this  is  repeated  until  it  is  no    onger 
colored  by  the  buttermilk,  and  the  butter  is  entirely  free 
from  it.     There  cannot  be  too  much  care  given  to  this 
part  of  the  work.     This  done,  the  butter  is  remove!  to 
the  butter-worker  for  salting  and  working. 

Butter  is  a  compound  substance  consisting  of  tatty 
acids,  combined  with  a  base  known  as  "oil  sugar  or 
glycerine,  and  forming  neutral  bodies  known  as  marga- 
rine and  oleine;  together  with  certain  acids,  called 
butyric,  caprio  and  caproie.  It  is  a  question,  however, 
whether  these  acids  really  form  a  part  of  the  butter  orig- 
inally, or  are  not  produced  in  it  by  decomposition  of  its 
fatty  elements,  aided  by  the  too  common  impurities 
which  exist  in  it.  .  , 

When  butter,  as  it  is  taken  from  the  churn,  is  melted 
in  water  of  a  temperature  of  something  less  than  180 
de-rees,  and  is  then  washed  repeatedly  with  warm  water, 
oif  is  obtained  which  is  nearly  colorless,  and  when 
'  filtered  is  clear  and  transparent.  When  cooled  this  oil 
hardens  into  a  hard  whitish  fat.   By  putting  this  fat  into 


288 

a  linen  wrapj^er  and  pressing  it  forcibly  at  a  temperature 
of  sixty  degrees,  a  slightly  yellow  fluid  oil  is  procured 
from  it,  while  a  solid,  pure  white  fat  remains  in  the 
cloth.  This  solid  white  fat  is  called  margarine  from  its 
pearly  appearance  ;  the  fluid  oil  is  called  oleine,  butter- 
oil,  or  oil  of  butter,  and  sometimes  butyrine. 

These  two  fatty  substances  are  themselves  compound 
in  character,  for  if  treated  with  a  hot  solution  of  caustic 
potash  they  readily  dissolve  and  form  soap.  When  one 
of  these  soaps  made  from  the  margarine  is  dissolved  in 
water  and  decomposed  by  the  addition  of  diluted  sul- 
phuric acid,  a  white  waxy  substance  separates,  and  after 
having  been  dried  and  dissolved  in  hot  alcohol,  crystal- 
lizes on  cooling  into  pearly  scales.  This  substance  has  all 
the  properties  of  an  acid  and  is  known  as  margaric  acid. 

When  the  other  (the  oleine)  soap  is  treated  in  a  similar 
way  an  oily  substance  is  separated,  differing  from  the 
butter  oil  and  having  all  the  properties  of  an  acid.  This 
substance  is  known  as  oleic  acid  of  butter,  because  it  has 
never  been  obtained  from  any  other  substance  than  the 
oil  of  butter.  The  liquid  remaining  after  the  separation 
of  these  acids  contains  a  sweet,  syrupy,  oily  substance 
which,,  when  separated,  is  the  glycerine  so  well  known  as 
the  base  of  neutral  oils  and  fats. 

The  composition  of  butter  varies  considerably  in  regard 
to  the  proportion  of  these  fatty  bodies,  margarine  and 
oleine.  In  summer  the  proportions  of  these  fats  are 
about  as  follows: 

COMPOSITION  OF  SUMMER    BUTTER. 

Marsrarine 40  percent 

Oleine - -^       " 

100 

In  winter  this  proportion  is  nearly  reversed,  as  follows: 

COMPOSITION    OF    WINTER   BUTTER. 

Margarine - 65  per  cent 

Oleine -  35      " 

lOQ 


BUTTER.  289 

These  compositions  are  by  no  means  constant,  but  vary 
considerably,  being  affected  by  the  individual  animal, 
the  breed,  the  food,  and  even  by  the  management  of  the 
dairy.  This  latter  is  important,  because  it  shows  how 
bad  or  injudicious  work  in  the  dairy  may  affect  the  qual- 
ity of  the  butter  even  in  chemical  composition,  as  will 
be  shown  more  fully  further  on. 

Margarine  is  not  only  a  prevailing  constituent  of 
butter,  but  it  exists  also  in  the  fat  of  cattle  and  in  olive 
oil,  and  in  human  fat  to  a  very  large  extent.  Butter 
is  therefore  a  naturally  excellent  food  for  the  human 
race,  containing  as  it  does  so  large  a  proportion  of  one 
of  the  materials — margarine — of  which  the  human  frame 
is  built  up.  This  is  white,  hard,  brittle,  and  its  melting 
point  is  118  degrees.  When  pure  it  is  unchangeable;  but 
when  mixed  with  the  various  substances  which  exist  in 
butter — sugar,  lactic  acidj  and  caseine— it  absorbs  oxygen 
from  the  atmosphere  and  changes  into  oleine,  or  one  of 
those  odoriferous  fatty  acids  which  are  present  in  ripened 
butter  to  a  small  extent,  but  in  old  butter  to  a  larger 
extent,  varying  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  per  cent,  and 
potentially  to  an  even  greater  degree  as  the  provocative 
impurities  may  be  present.  Just  here  might  be  men- 
tioned, once  more,  the  very  great  importance  of  the 
preservation  of  the  most  perfect  purity  in  every  opera- 
tion of  the  dairy;  because  every  impurity  in  milk,  cream, 
butter,  or  cheese  is  an  active  ferment,  producing  either 
inherent  or  internal  decomposition  or  oxidation,  by 
which  elements  are  changed  in  the  most  unexpected  and 
surprising  manner.  Thus  by  the  absorption  of  a  few 
atoms  of  oxygen  from  the  atmosphere  margaric  acid  be- 
comes changed  into  oleic  acid  and  water  ;  the  quality  of 
the  butter  being  materially  altered  for  the  worse,  the 
firm,  waxy  texiure  being  lost  and  a  soft,  oily,  greasy 
character  being  assumed.  And  again,  these  solid  and 
fluid  fats  are  also  changed  into  the  injurious  acids  which 


290  THE 

cause  the  disgustiog  rancidity  which  makes  bad  butter 
so  obnoxious  and  totally  unfit  for  use,  and  reduce  it  far 
below  the  so-called  bogus  butter  which  is  the  bugbear 
and  enemy  of  the  dairyman. 

The  preservation  of  butter  is  effected  not  only  by  the| 
removal  from  it  of  these  obnoxious  elements,  but  also  by., 
the  addition  of  some  antiseptic  substances.  Salt  is  most 
commonly  used  for  this  purpose,  and  this  is  quite  suffi- 
cient for  pure,  well-made  butter;  but  for  the  neutralizing 
of  impure  influences  in  poor  butter,  or  for  concealing  the 
undesirable  flavor  of  it,  borax,  saltpeter,  and  sugar  are 
often  used,  with  reasonably  good  results,  considering  the 
difficulty  of  the  operation  of  reforming  bad  butter. 

Salting  and  packing  butter  for  sale  are  two  important 
parts  of  the  business.  Salt  is  a  preservative  of  butter, 
notwithstanding  the  statement  to  the  contrary  made  by 
persons  who  evidently  do  not  understand  the  nature  of 
salt  and  the  action  of  antiseptics  or  the  character  of 
butter. 

Salting  butter,  however,  is  a  nice  operation,  and  re- 
quires a  good  deal  of  knowledge  and  care.  The  salt 
should  be  absolutely  pure,  and  be  ground  as  finely  as 
possible.  In  our  dairy,  although  using  the  finest  Eng- 
lish dairy  salt,  we  ground  it  over  again  in  a  small  hand 
buhr-stone  mill,  until  it  was  an  impalpable  powder,  and 
dissolved  so  quickly  on  the  tongue  as  to  leave  no  sense 
of  grittiness  to  the  teeth  in  less  than  a  minute.  The 
butter  is  salted  at  the  rate  of  one  ounce  to  the  pound, 
as  has  been  previously  described,  and  after  having  stood 
twenty-four  hours  on  the  working  table,  during  which 
time  it  gradually  drains  off  the  surplus  water,  it  is 
worked  over  for  packing. 

In  its  granular  condition  it  consists  of  a  mass  of 
rounded  particles,  with  brine  occupying  the  interstices, 
and  the  working  consists  of  pressing  the  mass  in  thin 
sheets  or  slices  so  as  to  squeeze  the  grains  close  together 


BUTTEK.  291 

and  press  out  the  salt  water.  By  carefully  directing  the 
pressure  to  merely  squeeze  the  butter  the  rounded  grains 
are  pressed  flat  or  lengthwise  and  intermingled  with  each 
other  so  as  to  give  the  butter,  under  the  microscope,  a 
fibrous  appearance,  much  like  that  of  lean  meat,  the 
fibers  passing  in  and  out  among  each  other,  and  having 
a  texture  much  like  that  of  felt.  It  is  this  which  gives 
the  irregular,  waxy  fracture  to  well  made  butter  and 
makes  it  solid  and  free  from  excessive  moisture.  To  the 
eye  no  water  appears  in  butter  so  made,  but  when  it  is 
newly  cut  minute  drops  of  clear  brine  exude  from  the 
fresh  surface.  When  examined  under  a  microscope  of 
two  hundred  diameter  power  the  moisture  is  seen  in  very 
small  globules  among  the  fibers,  but  no  crystals  of  salt 
are  detected.  This  moisture  amounts  to  about  ten  or 
twelve  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  butter.  As  water 
holds  in  solution  a  large  quantity  of  salt,  the  ounce  of 
salt  to  the  pound  of  butter  which  has  been  mixed  absorbs 
all  the  water  from  the  butter  and  makes  it  really  dry ; 
the  salt  brine  left  after  the  working  simply  forming  a 
superficial  coating  over  the  fibers  and  protecting  them 
from  the  atmosphere  and  the  consequent  oxidation.  The 
antiseptic  effect  of  salt  is  due  to  this  absorption  of  water 
from  whatever  substance  it  is  brought  into  connection 
with.  Water  is  the  most  active  agent  of  decomposition 
and  dry  matter  is  indestructible  by  decay.  It  is  quite  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  animal  fats  are  free  from  water, 
and  hence  salt  has  no  preservative  influence  upon  them. 
These  fats  contain  a  large  proportion  of  water,  and  salt 
abstracts  the  water  from  them  and  thus  prevents  de- 
composition. Clear  mess  pork  is  all  fat,  and  j^et  it  is 
preserved  by  salting,  and  so  butter  in  the  same  way  is 
preserved  from  rancidity,  which  is  decomposition  of  the 
oleine  or  soft  oily  part  of  it,  by  this  action  of  the  salt, 
which  is  called  antiseptic,  or  opposed  to  decay. 

Good   butter  is  wholly  spoiled  by  improper  salting, 


292  THE   DAIKYMAi^'S   MAIs'UAL. 

while  butter  that  is  not  good  may  be  improved  and  kept 
from  getting  worse  by  salting  it  carefully.  The  first 
requisite  is  good  salt,  and  few  dairy  farmers  are  willing 
to  get  salt  of  the  best  quality,  because  of  its  slightly 
higher  price.  The  next  requisite  is  to  mix  the  sale 
thoroughly  with  the  butter.  We  give  tw^o  illustrations 
which  will  show  why  these  two  requisites  are  indispen- 
sable to  the  making  of  good  butter.     At   figure  53  is 


Fig.  53.— BUTTER  PROPERLY  SALTED. 

shown  a  sample  of  well-salted  butter,  as  it  appears 
under  a  microscope.  At  figure  54  is  shown  a  sample 
in  which  salt  of  a  poor  quality  has  been  used,  and  this 
has  not  been  evenly  mixed  in  the  butter.  In  the  first 
sample,  the  salt  has  been  entirely  dissolved  ;  not  a  single 
crystal  remains  visible,  although  the  magnifying  power 
used  was  equal  to  five  hundred  diameters.  The  com- 
plete solution  of  the  salt,  with  thorough  mixture  of  the 
brine  in  the  butter,  and  the  very  perfect  Avorking  of  it, 
give  to  the  butter  a  firm,  dry  and  waxy  consistence,  and  an 
even  quality  and  flavor. 

The  other  sample  shows  a  large  quantity  of  salt  un- 
dissolved; the  peculiar  form  of  the.  salt  crystals  is  readily 


BUTTER. 


293 


perceived.  This  unevenness  injures  the  quality,  and 
causes  the  butter  to  deteriorate  very  rapidly,  because  a 
large  portion  of  it  is  not  affected  by  the  salt,  which  re- 
mains nndissolved,  and  cannot  exercise  its  desired  anti- 
septic action.  Moreover,  the  salt  is  impure,  as  is  shown 
by  the  arrow-head  crystals,  which  are  evidently  sulphate 
of  lime,  a  common  impurity  in  a  poor  quality  of  salt, 
which  gives  a  bitter  taste  to  the  butter,  and  causes 
white  spots  to  appear  in  it.  The  bitterness  is  probably 
caused  by  the  formation  of  sulphate  of  soda  (Grlauber's 


Fig.   54.— BUTTEB   NOT    PROPERLY  SALTED. 

salt),  and  the  white  spots  by  chloride  of  calcium,  both 
being  produced  by  the  reaction  of  the  dissolved  sulphate 
of  lime,  and  the  chloride  of  sodium  (salt),  in  the  butter. 
The  white  spots  with  a  dark  center  are  no  doubt  caused 
by  the  action  of  this  chloride  of  calcium  upon  the  butter; 
an  evidence  of  this  may  be  found  by  testing  a  little  of 
the  same  with  a  small  fragment  of  this  substance. 

When  the  butter  is  freed  from  excess  of  moisture  by 
this  action  of  pressure  above  described  (and  this  method 
is  important  to  be  observed),  it  is  ready  for  packing  and 
should  be  packed  at  once.     Every  minute's  exposure  to 


294  THE  DAIRYMAX  S   MANUAL. 

the  air  tends  to  injure  the  quality  of  the  butter.  If  the 
butter  is  intended  for  immediate  use  it  should  neverthe- 
less be  as  carefully  packed  as  if  for  a  year's  keeping-.  The 
fancy  ways  of  putting  up  butter  in  cakes  is  not  advisable 
unless  they  are  immediately  wrapped  in  paraffine  paper, 
lacked  in  a  tight  box  and  shipped  at  once.  For  family 
use  we  prefer  a  small  pail  holding  five  pounds,  made 
of  sprace  or  maple  veneer,  and  supplied  with  a  cover  and 
a  wire  handle  (figure  55,  a).  This  is  very  convenieut 
and  cheap.  The  pails  are  coated  inside  with  paraflQne, 
which  makes  them  air  tight,  and  when  closely  packed 
with  butter  and  pressed  smoothly  on  the  top  a  sheet  of 
paraffine  paper  is  carefully  spread  and  turned  over  the 


Fi^.  55.— .4,  VEN-EEE  PAIL,  "holding  five  pounds;  B,  yexeer  box, 
holding  five  pounds  ;  C,  -w^elsh  pail,  holding  twenty  pounds. 

edge  and  the  cover  is  put  on  over  it.  The  pail  is  then 
wrapped  in  strong  paper  and  tied  with  twine,  a  paste- 
board ticket  with  the  address  being  tied  to  it.  We  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  pasting  a  printed  paper  over  the 
cover  for  the  purpose  of  a  business  card  and  to  further 
r^rotect  the  butter  from  the  air.  Another  very  useful 
package  is  a  five-pound  box  made  of  the  same  material. 
It  is  shown  at  h,  in  figure  55.  For  the  regular  trade  we 
prefer  the  Welsh  pail  (c),  holding  twenty  pounds,  and 
made  of  spruce.  Tliis  pail  has  a  tight  cover  and  costs 
less  than  a  cent  a  pound  for  the  butter  in  it.  As  this 
pail  will  generally  sell  the  butter  at  considerably  more 
than  the  usual  price,  it  is  easily  afforded.  All  packages 
should  be  free.     A  returned  butter  pail  is  not  a  sweet 


JBFTTEE.  295 

thing  and  should  never  be  used,  hence  the  advantage  of 
such  packages  as  may  be  given  to  the  purchasers. 

In  packing  pails  of  this  size  some  precautions  are  ad- 
visable. The  pails  should  be  soaked  in  salt  water  the 
night  before  they  are  used.  When  the  butter  is  ready 
for  packing  the  pail  is  rinsed  out  with  boiling  water, 
which  stands  in  it  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  with  clear 
cold  water ;  after  this  the  butter  is  packed  at  once.  A 
small  quantity  is  pressed  down  firmly  in  the  bottom,  and 
no  more  is  put  in  at  once  than  can  be  packed  so  closely 
as  to  exclude  the  air  and  squeeze  out  any  moisture  which 
may  be  in  it.  When  the  pail  is  full  to  the  edge,  a  sheet  of 
paraffine^  paper  is  pressed  over  it  and  the  cover  is  put  on 
and  nailed  down.  Larger  pails,  tubs,  or  firkins  are  packed 
in  the  same  way.  If  the  packing  is  carefully  performed 
the  butter  will  improve  in  flavor  by  keeping.  The  slow, 
gradual  ripening  process  of  butter  is  akin  to  that  which 
goes  on  in  cheese  or  in  wines  and  also  in  fruit.  It  is  an 
intrinsic  change  of  the  elements  by  chemical  decompo- 
sition and  the  formation  of  new  compounds.  New  but- 
ter is  no  more  perfect  than  is  new  cheese  or  new  wine. 
Certain  acids  are  produced  in  the  butter  by  the  slow  de- 
composition of  the  oleiue,  as  they  are  in  cheese  by  the 
slow  decomposition  of  the  caseine.  The  popular  idea  of 
decomposition  is  that  it  is  decay,  rottenness,  and  putrid- 
ity. To  the  chemist  it  is  something  entirely  different.  • 
The  most  delicious  odors  and  flavors  are  produced  by 
the  decomposition  of  alcohol,  and  the  flavoring  extracts 
and  many  perfumes  are  thus  produced.  The  ripening 
of  fruits  is  a  process  of  decomposition,  and  so  is  the 
ripening  of  butter  and  cheese,  and  the  exquisite  bouquet 
of  the  finest  wines.  But  bad  butter  or  bad  cheese,  and 
the  vin  ordinaire  of  the  common  kinds,  do  not  contain 
the  pure  elements  which  produce  fragrance  and  exquisite 
flavor,  but  their  impurities  produce  the  most  disagree- 
able results.     Hence  the  dairyman  who  can  turn  out  per- 


29(j 

feet  butter  may  jDack  it  away  for  long  keeping,  in  the 
sure  exi)ectation  that  it  will  go  on  improving  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  if  he  will  only  secure  it  safely  against  the 
influence  of  the  germ-laden  atmosphere. 

Other  packages  used  are  the  half-tub,  holding  about 
thirty  pounds,  a  cheap  and  good  package,  but  not  tight 
enough  for  long  keeping.  It  is  made  of  wliite  oak,  and  the 
firm,  solid  cover  is  nailed  down  and  held  by  three  small 
pieces  of  tin  or  hoop  iron  over  the  edge.  The  return  pail 
is  a  popular  package  among  grocery  man;  it  is  made  of 
white  oak,  and  the  best  kinds  are  varnished  on  the  outside. 
It  holds  fifty  pounds.  The  cover  fits  closely,  and  is  wedged 
down  by  means  of  a  bar,  which  goes  into  the  ears  on  the 
sides.  Good  butter,  well  packed  in  these  tubs,  will  keep 
a  year  in  perfect  order,  and  if  the  butter  is  of  the  finest 
quality  it  will  improve  in  flavor  by  ripening,  when  w^ell 
packed  in  such  a  pail,  and  stored  in  a  cold  place.  The 
one  hundred  jDound  firkin  is  used  for  the  foreign  trade. 
It  is  made  very  tight,  well  hooped,  and  of  wiiite  oak, 
and  butter  packed  in  it  can  be  kept  for  months  in  per- 
fect order.  It  is  also  popular  in  the  home  market  for 
the  retail  trade.  In  packing  these  firkins  it  is  advisable 
to  bore  a  small  hole  in  the  head  just  before  it  is  shipped 
and  pour  in  as  much  clear,  well  skimmed  brine  as  will 
fill  any  vacancies  between  the  butter  and  the  package. 
The  bole  is  closed  with  a  well  fitting  peg  cut  off  flush 
with  the  surface. 

The  vital  importance  of  fine  quality  in  butter  cannot 
be  dwelt  upon  too  forcibly  or  reiterated  too  frequently. 
And  when  the  simplicity  of  the  methods  required  to 
secure  this  fine  quality  and  their  complete  practicability 
are  considered,  it  is  amazing  to  know  that  really  fine 
butter  that  will  keep  for  a  few  weeks  or  months  is  so 
scarce  an  article.  It  is  often  thought  that  there  is  some 
secret  process  in  it,  and  worthy  persons  who  try  and 
try,  and  yet  fail  to  reach  their  ends,  become  discouraged 


BUTTER. 


297 


because  they  have  not  learned  the  secret.     Professor 
Sheldon,  the  English  dairy  expert,  gives  the  following 

pertinent  example  :  ,    -.       n        u  i.^ 

"Some  years  ago  we  knew  a  widow  lady  whose  butter, 
especially  with  respect  to  -flavor,  was  of  a  very  superior 
kind ;  we  asked  her  what  her  secret  was,  for  we  had 
never  tasted  such  butter  at  a  farm  house.  'I  have  no 
secret,'  she  said,  ^beyond  this.  I  am  always  very  par- 
ticular about  keeping  thoroughly  clean  every  vessel  with 
which  the  milk  and  cream  come  in  contact.  I  frequent- 
ly have  them  scalded  with  boiling  water,  scrubbed  with  a 
hard  brush,  and  well  rinsed  in  clear,  cold  water,  and  I 
am  also  careful  to  keep  the  milk-room  clean  and  dry,  and 
well  supplied  with  fresh  air.  I  am  not  aware  that  I  have 
any  secret  beyond  this  ;  in  fact,  there  is  no  secret  m  the 

matter. '"  . 

Many  so-called  -experts"  in  dairying,  but  whose  in- 
formation is  gained  from  theories  and  not  from  practice, 
claim  to  know  a  secret  or  two.     Some  say  brme  salting 
is  the  secret;  others,  granular  butter;  others,  again,  say 
ripenino-  of  the  cream  is  the  one  thing  needful,  while 
some  interested  persons  will  say  that  Jersey  cows,  or 
Holstein-Friesians,  or  Guernseys,  must  be  kept,  or  there 
can  be  no  fine  butter  made  ;  forgetting  that  brme  saltmg 
and  granular  butter  are  not  new  by  any  means,  but  as 
oil  as  our  grandmothers,  who   "ripened"  their  cream 
too  by  simply  keeping  it  until  it  became  slightly  acid 
(the  modern  ripening),  and  there  was   as   good   butter 
made  by  these  excellent  old  ladies  as  by  any  modern 
dairyman,  or  professor  or  expert  in  the  dairy  art. 

The  anthor  can  never  forget  the  excellent  butter  made 
by  his  mother  fifty  years  ago— the  sweetest,  most  fragrant 
and  well-flavored  ever  tasted— and  can  never  dissociate 
*  it  from  her  exquisitely  neat  and  clean  management  ;  the 
sleek  clean  Ayrshire  cows ;  the  sweet  green  clover ;  the 
old  brick  stable  with  smooth  stone  floor,  so  clean  that 


^98  THE   dairyman's   manual. 

the  mistress  could  go  about  in  it  with  the  dainty  satin 
slippers  of  those  days,  and  silk  dress  and  lace  cuffs,  and 
pet  her  favorite  cows ;  the  milk-house  of  stone  into 
which  a  clear  spring  bubbled  from  its  rocky  course  close 
by,  cold  and  clear  in  the  hottest  day ;  the  long  pool 
inside  made  of  stone  slabs,  in  which  the  bright  red 
earthen  milk  jars  stood,  covered  with  golden  cream ; 
the  cool  clean  brick  floor,  over  which  a  stray  sunbeam 
flickered  as  it  escaped  through  the  mass  of  ivy  and  roses 
which  festooned  the  barred  window,  so  made  to  exclude 
the  cats  and  admit  the  cool  night  air,  which  came  sweep- 
ing over  the  green  meadows  and  the  waving  rustling 
trees ;  and  the  long  stone  bench  raised  on  brick  piers, 
which  held  the  tubs  of  butter,  packed  for  sale  in  the 
fall,  or  the  jars  put  down  in  golden  June  for  the  domestic 
winter  supply,  and  the  great  bowl  filled  with  the  newly 
churned  butter  of  which  it  was  a  grand  luxury  to  steal 
some  to  eat  with  a  fresh  biscuit.  All.  this,  fixed  like  a 
photograph  on  the  mind,  made  a  dairyman  of  the  author, 
and  gave  him  the  ambition  to  own  at  one  time  just  such 
a  dairy  with  such  a  cold  spring,  and  such  a  solid  struct- 
ure  with  so  pure  and  sweet  surroundings.  For  if  -there 
be  a  secret  in  making  fine  butter  these  comprise  it. 

Cleanliness  may  be  said  to  be  entire  absence  of  un- 
necessary and  inappropriate  matter.  Dirt,  as  anything 
unclean  is  commonly  termed,  has  been  aptly  described 
as  any  matter  that  is  out  of  plnce,  and  there  are  a  great 
many  things  connected  with  dairying  which  may  be  out 
uf  place.  Some  articles  of  food  may  be  wrong  ;  sour 
food  is  unclean,  for  instance  ;  an  excess  of  any  kind  of 
food  may  also  be  considered  in  the  same  light,  because  it 
is  essentially  out  of  place  in  the  cow's  stomach,  causing 
disturbance  of  the  digestive  organs,  and  consequent  im- 
purity of  the  blood,  and  this  injuriously  affects  the  milk 
and  necessarily  the  butter. 

Impure  water  and  foul  air  are 'also  essentially  unclean, 


BUTTER.  299 

for  they  carry  unclean  and  impure  matter  directly  into 
the  blood  and  irritate  the  very  source  of  the  milk.  All 
these  matters  may  very  easily  be  ignored  or  neglected,  as 
not  appearing  to  be  proximate  elements  in  this  matter  of 
cleanliness,  but  the  experience  of  every  fine  butter-maker, 
of  every  cheese-maker,  and  of  every  person  who  produces 
milk  for  sale,  or  who  sells  it,  or  who  manufactures  it  in 
any  way,  all  concurrently  proves  that  these  errors  in  the 
management  of  the  cows  are  really  most  serious  and  have 
much  to  do  with  the  very  frequent  poor  quality  of  butter. 

Then  we  may  consider  what  may  be  called  the  gross 
instances  of  uncleanliness,  the  avoidance  of  which  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  chief  points  in  the  successful  manage- 
ment of  the  dairy.  It  can  be  hardly  necessary  to  particu- 
larize these,  for  they  are  palpable  to  the  commonest  under- 
standing, and  any  dairyman  who  will  milk  a  cow  fouled 
with  manure  from  a  night's  rest  in  dung  and  filthy  litter, 
or  with  hands  soiled  by  the  coarser  work  of  the  stable, 
or  who  goes  all  unwashed  from  his  own  bed  to  the  stable 
to  milk,  or  who  can  quietly  and  contentedly  go  on  milk- 
ing while  a  filthy  stream  courses  down  into  the  milk  pail, 
or  who  will  dip  his  filthy  fingers  into  the  milk  to  wet  the 
unclean  teats  that  he  may  get  a  firmer  hold  upon  them, 
or  who  never  uses  a  brush  or  card  upon  his  cows,  such 
a  man  is  totally  destitute  of  that  natural  instinct  of 
cleanliness  without  which  no  teaching  can  influence  his 
reason,  any  inore  than  talking  to  a  blind  man  can  give 
him  an  idea  of  the  beauties  of  a  picture  gallery. 

Lastly  maybe  mentioned  the  chemical  changes  in  milk 
and  cream,  which  are  to  be  most  carefully  controlled. 
Milk,  as  has  been  explained,  is  a  most  complex  and  un- 
stable fluid,  and  has  within  it  all  the  elements  and  nat- 
ural proclivities  for  change  and  decomposition.  It  does 
net  need  to  wait  even  for  the  omnipotent  oxygen  to 
exercise  its  action.  It  merely  needs  to  break  apart  its 
atoms  to  produce  within  itself  the  aci^  which  is  at  once 


300 

the  servant,  the  master,  and  the  bane  of  the  dairyman. 
And  the  presence  of  this  acid  in  excess  is  a  thing  out  of 
place,  hence  an  uncleanliness,  an  impurity,  and  destruc- 
tive of  the  good  qualities  of  butter.  The  mere  presence 
of  the  acid  in  milk  or  cream  is  enougli  ;  one  must  not 
wait  for  its  action.  It  is  the  same  in  regard  to  cheese. 
As  the  cream  is  ripe  for  the  churn  as  soon  as  the  acid 
becomes  perceptible,  so  the  curd  is  ready  for  the  press 
when  acid  is  apparent,  and  in  either  case  its  action  is  to 
be  prevented  by  completing  the  final  process  at  once  and 
before  it  can  produce  decomposition  in  the  cream  or  the 
curd.  Every  fine  butter-maker  will  tell  us  to  skim  the 
cream  before  the  milk  is  sour  to  the  taste  ;  it  then  has  a 
slight  acid  reaction  and  turns  blue  litmus  paper  red  or 
reddish  j)urple,  and  the  cream  is  to  be  churned  as  soon 
as  it  is  slightly  acid.  At  a  temperature  of  sixty  degrees, 
in  a  pure  atmosphere,  milk  exposed  to  the  air  will  be 
precisely  in  the  right  condition  for  skimming,  and  at  the 
same  temperature  and  under  the  same  circumstances 
the  cream  will  be  ready  for  the  churn  in  twenty-four 
hours  ;  or  if  the  milk  has  been  kept  in  the  deep  pails 
in  water  of  a  temperature  of  fifty  degrees  or  less  and 
skimmed  in  twenty-four  hours,  when  all  the  cream  will 
have  risen,  the  cream  will  require  to  stand  thirty-six 
hours  at  a  temperature  of  sixty  degrees  to  acquire  the 
right  stage  of  acidity  for  the  production  of  good  butter. 
There  is  no  secret  in  all  this  ;  it  is  the  alphabet,  the 
rudimentary  knowledge,  in  dairy  business. 

The  disposal  of  fine  butter  is  an  element  in  the  profit 
of  making  it  of  no  little  importance.  When  one  men- 
tions the  fact  that  choice  butter  brings  a  much  higher 
price  than  the  regular  market  rates  for  that  of  an  average 
good  quality  he  is  apt  to  be  overwhelmed  with  requests 
for  information  as  to  where  this  good  butter  can  be  sold 
for  high  prices.  This  is  a  point  upon  which  dairymen 
and  farmers  must  exercise  their  own  skill  and  discretion 


BUTTER.  ^"^ 


as  thev  may  find  means  and  opportunities.     For  special 
;  oStrspecial  markets  are  to  be  found  ;  ^-^^^^^^^ 
market  tl.ey  go  to  make  up  an  average,  and  the  dealer  gets 
whatever  benefit  may  result  from  the  better  quahty.  If  he 
fid  some  special  purchaser  for  a  few  tubs  at  higher  prices 
fl  an  arrusual,  he  considers  the  profit  so  made  as  justly 
duT  to  him  for  his  trouble  in  seeking  purchasers  and 
J  ndUng  the  butter.     To  getthe  desired  advantage  from 
the  better  quality  of  the  product  the  d«ryman  must  to 
in  direct  communication  with  the  '"«^---  .-'^^^;°^'^ 
the  charges  incidental  to  the  services  of  a  middleman 
;  reovcr,  the  butter  must  be  put  up  -  P^fX ^- 
small  size  suitable  for  domestic  use,  and  must  be  de  lyered 
ir  regular  periods  without  any  failure,  and  constantly, 
thio!°<^^    the  year.     This  should  be  evident  to  persons 
w  10  li-e  desiro'is  of  going  into  this  business,  for  a  famdy 
usin-a  certain  quantity  of  butter  weekly  needs  it  ou 
St  te'd  days,  and  any  disappointment  disturbs  the  whole 
domestic  arrangements.     This  is  a  part  of  the  price,  and 
the  trouble  thifs  caused  to  the  dairyman  is  an  equivalent 
fnr  t.hp  higher  price  received. 

Te  question  is,  How  can  the  maker  of  butter  offirs  - 
rate  qualitv,  wlio  is  able  to  supply  families  in  the  wmter, 
chiefly  and  in  the  summer  except  for  the    ew  weeks 
when  these  families  are  spending  vacations  m  the  coun- 
'trv   bring  his  product  to  the  notice  of  these  consumers  ? 
As  in  all  similar  cases,  a  work  of  probation  is  required 
to  gain  the  requisite  experience  and  success  m  catering 
to  fhe  wants  of  these  persons.     The  dairyman  ambiliou 
of    a  reputation,    and  desirous   of  the   profit   inciden 
thereto  bec^ins  at  home.     In  his  nearest  village  he  will 
fl' d  by'inquiry  some  families  who  desire  what  he  has  to 
iisposi  of     He  may  supply  these  as  far  as  he  can   and 
ii  the  meantime  continue  to  sell  his  surplus  by   he  reg- 
Ir  commission  agent.     But  while  domg  this  he  may 
secure  a  very  great  advantage  by  advertising  himself  and 


302  THE  daijryman's  manual. 

his  product.  He  may  choose  a  name  for  his  dairy,  and 
with  a  proper  iron  brand  the  bottom  (inside)  of  his 
pails  with  his  name  and  that  of  his  dairy  and  his 
full  address.  In  short,  he  should  publish  his  business 
cards  upon  his  packages  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
commission  agent  cannot  obliterate  it  with  his  shaving 
tool.  A  dairyman  who  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  built 
up  a  most  proii  table  private  trade  began  in  this  way. 
He  made  good  butter  and  shipped  it  in  fifty-pound  pails 
to  the  Kew  York  market,  where  it  brought  the  highest 
ordinary  market  price.  He  happened  to  have  an  applica- 
tion from  a  resident  of  the  adjacent  village  for  a  casual  sup- 
ply in  an  emergency,  and  in  accordance  with  his  constant 
custom  did  his  best  in  accommodating  the  purchaser. 
This  led  to  a  yearly  contract  for  a  regular  supply 
at  ten  cents  a  pound  above  the  highest  price  here- 
tofore obtained.  A  brand,  with  his  name,  was  then 
burned  into  the  inside  bottom  of  every  pail  shipped, 
and  the  greatest  care  was  used  to  pack  the  butter 
in  the  very  best  manner.  Fine  bleached  cheese-cloth 
linings  were  used  for  the  pails  and  for  covering  the 
butter.  In  a  short  time  a  letter  was  received  from 
a  city  caterer  who  had  bought  a  pail  of  the  butter, 
asking  for  direct  shipments,  and  a  trade  was  thus 
opened  which  soon  enlarged,  and  included  eggs,  poultry, 
spring  chickens,  home-made  sausages,  fruits,  vegetables, 
and  spring  lambs.  Some  months  this  single  customer 
took  $200  worth  of  such  produce  from  the  farm.  Then 
an  advertisement  in  a  city  daily  newspaper  brought  sev- 
eral private  customers,  who  paid  still  higher  prices  for 
five-pound  pails  delivered  weekly  by  express.  In  this 
way  a  trade  was  secured  by  which  prices  were  gradually 
advanced  until  seventy-five  cents  a  pound  was  readily  se- 
cured for  the  butter  and  equally  good  prices  for  fresh 
eggs  and  poultry. 

It  is  by  similar  methods  that  the  fancy  prices,  some 


« BUTTER.  303 

equal  to  11.00  and  $1.25  a  pound,  have  been  procured 
for  butter  which  was  really  no  batter  than  some  put  up 
in  large  packages  and  sold  only  at  the  top  of  the  general 
market,  or  one-half  or  one-fourth  as  much.  The  differ- 
ence in  the  price  paid  was  procured  because  of  the  good 
and  even  quality,  the  freshness,  the  certainty  of  supply, 
and  the  neat  and  attractive  package,  which  contained 
enough  for  a  week's  use,  and  which  could  be  thrown  away 
when  used.  All  these  conveniences  are  paid  for  without 
stint  by  a  certain  class  of  purchasers,  and  the  only 
trouble  is  for  the  dairyman  to  find  them  and  so  secure 
his  market. 

The  use  of  some  materials  for  the  preservation  of 
butter  that  is  exposed  to  unusually  adverse  influences  is 
often  necessary.  As  fresh  butter  is  a  very  perishable  prod- 
uct, and  to  a  large  extent  in  both  small  and  large  dairies 
is  required  to  be  preserved  in  good  condition  for  length- 
ened periods,  the  methods  of  preserving  it  are  worthy  of 
notice.  At  the  outset  it  is  necessary  to  utter  a  caution 
against  all  the  so-called  butter  powders  which  are  offered 
for  sale  and  pressed  upon  public  notice  as  agents  for  in- 
creasing the  quantity  of  butter  as  well  as  for  preserving  it. 
Some  of  these  deserve  to  be  called  frauds,  for  they  are 
not  what  they  are  set  forth  to  be,  and  the  stuff  produced 
by  them  is  not  butter,  but  a  mixture  of  butter  and  curd 
made  by  means  of  alum,  saleratus  and  other  similar  sub- 
stances, with  sufficient  coloring  matter  to  give  it  some 
appearance  of  butter.  But  it  is  not  butter  by  any  means, 
and  can  only  bo  disposed  of  by  false  representations.  As 
a  matter  of  course,  no  person  would  make  such  stuff  for 
his  own  use  ;  but  many  might  be  deceived  by  the  delusive 
advertisements  into  purchasing  and  trying  these  butter 
powders,  to  their  own  disappointment  and  injury.  As  a 
general  rule,  all  these  mixtures  by  which  the  quantity  of 
the  butter  is  proposed  to  be  increased  may  be  considered 
as  injurious,  because  the  butter  cannot  be  increased  in 


304  THE   DAIKYMAX'S   MANUAL. 

any  manner  whatever,  except  by  the  addition  of  milk, 
curd,  or  water,  and  any  one  of  these  is  hurtful  to  the 
butter,  and  to  the  extent  that  the  additional  weight  and 
bulk  are  not  butter  it  is  a  deceit  and  a  fraud. 

The  quantity  of  salt  used  is  from  one-half  to  a 
whole  ounce  for  a  pound  of  butter.  Tlie  quantity  is 
varied  as  the  butter  may  require  to  be  kept  for  some 
time  or  is  intended  for  immediate  use.  In  the  latter 
case  half  an  ounce  to  the  pound  is  sufficient ;  when  the 
butter  is  to  be  kept  two  or  three  mouths  three-quarters 
of  an  ounce  should  be  used,  and  for  the  longest  period 
a  full  ounce  will  be  required.  It  depends  very  much 
upon  the  way  in  which  the  butter  is  made.  If  we  take 
the  butter  as  it  comes  from  the  churn,  as  described  at  the 
opening  of  this  chapter,  in  the  form  of  small  grains  and 
quite  free  from  buttermilk,  and  drained  from  all.  surjDlus 
water  by  remaining  in  the  churn  for  two  hours,  half  an 
ounce  of  salt  is  enough.  This  is  sprinkled  evenly 
over  the  butter,  which  is  then  gathered  with  the  ladle  or 
worked  with  the  butter-worker  so  as  to  incorporate  the 
salt  thoroughly  with  the  butter.  The  water  in  the  but- 
ter immediately  dissolves  this  salt.  For  the  complete 
solution  of  salt  about  three  or  four  times  its  weight  of 
water  is  required.  If  half  an  ounce  of  salt  is  completely 
dissolved  in  a  pound  of  butter,  there  will  be  at  least  two 
ounces  of  brine  in  it,  which  is  equal  to  about  ten  per  cent 
of  moisture,  which  is  considerably  less  than  the  average. 
Hence  it  is  seen  that  there  must  be  nearly  twenty  per  cent, 
of  water  in  butter  to  dissolve  one  ounce  of  salt  and  com- 
pletely avoid  the  presence  of  salt  crystals  in  it.  But 
when  this  amount  of  moisture  exists  in  the  butter  a  large 
part  of  it  will  be  worked  out  after  the  salt  has  been 
dissolved.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  perhaps,  butter  of 
the  ordinary  character  salted  at  the  rate  of  one  ounce  to 
the  pound  will  lose  nearly  one-half  of  it  by  drainage,  and 
if  the  butter — as  is  exceedingly  probable — contains  some 


BUTTER.  305 

remaining  butterrailk  in  it,  this  full  allowance  of  salt 
will  be  required  for  its  preservation  from  early  rancidity. 
In  short,  the  salting  of  butter  must  be  done  judiciously, 
and  with  a  knowledge  and  consideration  of  the  principles 
involved  in  it,  as  heretofore  explained  in  the  full  and 
careful  statement  made  of  the  character  and  behavior  of 
the  milk  and  the  cream,  and  the  action  of  the  chemical 
agents  to  which  they  are  exposed  upon  them. 

Saltpeter,  sugar,  borax,  and  some  preparations  of  borax 
have  been  and  are  used  in  packing  butter.  Saltpeter  and 
sugar  are  both  antiseptics  and  add  an  agreeable  flavor  to 
butter.  On  this  account  they  are  used  with  salt  to  re- 
pack butter  that  has  been  badly  packed  at  first,  or  to  mix 
with  inferior  and  poorly  made  butter  as  a  means  of  dis- 
guising its  bad  qualities.  They  are  really  for  the  use  of 
the  incompetent  dairyman  or  for  the  professional  packer 
of  "  store  butter,"  who  gathers  from  all  sources  butter 
of  all  qualities  of  badness  and  repacks  it  for  sale.  For 
this  purpose,  one  part  of  saltpeter  and  one  part  of 
white  sugar  finely  powdered  are  added  to  four  parts 
of  salt,  and  an  ounce  and  a  quarter  of  the  mixture 
is  used  with  each  pound  of  butter  previously  well 
washed  with  pure  water. 

The  use  of  borax  in  dairying  is  somewhat  new.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  this  salt — borate  of  soda,  which  is  a 
combination  of  36.58  percent  of  boracic  acid,  with  16.25 
per  cent  of  soda,  and  47.17  per  cent  of  water — is  an  ex- 
cellent antiseptic  ;  but  its  effect  upon  the  human  system 
is  said  to  be  injurious.  Some  experiments  have  been 
made  in  Europe  with  borax  as  a  butter  preservative  witb 
no  positive  ill  results ;  and  it  seems  that  its  suspected 
disadvantages  may,  after  all,  be  more  fancied  than  real. 
It  has  been  used  as  a  substitute  for  salt  in  the  usual 
quantity,  viz.,  about  six  per  cent,  having  first  been  freed 
from  the  water  of  crystallization  by  heating  it  on  an  iron 
plate  and  then  reducing  it  to  a  fine  powder. 


306  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

Several  other  butter  preservatives  are  in  the  market 
and  are  offered  to  dairymen.  Of  these  one  known  as 
glacialine  is  a  powder,  the  base  of  which  is  probably 
borax.  Another  is  a  liquid  used  by  the  Aylesbury  Dairy 
Company  of  England  m  their  business,  and  is  said  to 
be  an  excellent  substitute  for  salt.  It  is  believed 
to  be  a  preparation  of  2:)hosphoric  acid.  A  trial  with 
this  preparation  has  so  far  been  satisfactory,  a  pail 
of  butter  packed  with  it  being  in  unusually  good  condi- 
tion after  five  months,  and  the  butter  having  no  objec- 
tionable qualities.  Certainh',  the  butter  seems  to  keep 
better  than  with  salt  under  the  same  circumstances. 
One  liquid  ounce  of  the  preparation  is  used  for  sixteen 
pounds  of  butter  along  with  one-fourth  of  the  usual 
quantity  of  salt.  The  liquid  is  first  thoroughly  well  in- 
corporated with  the  butter  spread  out  upon  a  slab  or  the 
bowl  and  roughly  indented  with  the  ladle,  the  indenta- 
tions being  then  closed  over  carefully  to  prevent  escape 
of  the  liquid,  and  salt  at  the  rate  of  one  ounce  to  four 
pounds  being  then  added  and  the  whole  well  mixed. 
Butter  so  prepared  is  said  to  keep  perfectly  well  even 
when  exposed  to  the  air. 

A  most  effective  method  of  preserving  butter  is  by 
cold  storage.  Few  dairies  have  facilities  for  the  safe 
keeping  of  butter  during  the  summer.  This  requires  a 
low,  steady  temperature  and  a  moist  atmosphere,  but 
more  particularly  an  air-tight  package.  Those  who 
make  a  business  of  storing  butter  at  this  season,  when 
prices  are  low,  and  sales  are  not  nearly  equal  to  the  pro- 
duction, make  use  of  ice-houses  or  refrigerators,  in 
which  the  butter  may  be  kept  at  a  low  and  even  temper- 
ature, varying  from  thirty-eight  to  forty-five  degrees. 
In  the  hands  of  any  but  an  expert,  cold  storage  with  ice 
is  dangerous,  because  if  the  temperature  varies,  damage 
is  done  immediately;  for  the  effect  of  a  low  temperature 
is  to  so  change  the  molecular  arrangement  of  the  parti- 


BUTTER.  307 

cles  of  perishable  substances  as  to  hasten  their  disorgan- 
ization and  decomposition  on  the  occurrence  of  a  higher 
temperature.  And  once  this  higher  temperature  occurs, 
the  mischief  is  done,  and  cannot  wholly  be  arrested  by 
restoring  the  former  couditions.  So  tliat  unless  one  is  well 
provided  for  maintaining  a  steady  degree  of  low  temper- 
ature, it  is  better  to  avoid  the  use  of  ice  altogether,  and 
trust  solely  to  a  deep>  closed  cellar,  used  only  for  this 
storage.  June  butter  is  better  adapted  for  long  keeping 
than  that  made  at  any  other  season,  for  its  quality  is  of 
the  best,  and  its  texture  is  firm  and  solid,  and  if  it  is 
well  packed  in  air-tight  tubs,  pails,  or  firkins,  it  may  be 
very  well  kept  at  the  ordinary  temperature  of  a  fairly 
good  cellar  or  well-constructed  spring-house.  The  pack- 
ing, however,  has  much  to  do  with  the  preservation  of 
the  butter,  for  the  air  must  be  excluded  so  that  its  de- 
composing effect  is  avoided  and  the  evaporation  of  the 
moisture  in  the  butter  is  prevented.  When  the  butter  is 
packed,  the  top  may  be  covered  with  a  sheet  of  paraffine 
paper,  and  if  the  whole  inside  of  the  tub  or  firkin  were 
covered  with  it  the  air  might  be  better  excluded.  The 
butter  should  not  come  within  a  quarter  of  an  inch  of 
the  top  edge  of  the  package,  and  this  space  should  be 
filled  with  a  mush  of  wet  salt  plastered  evenly  over  it 
and  level  with  the  edge.  This  will  dry  in  a  solid  cake, 
and  if  covered  with  parafiBne  paper  would  be  still  more  re- 
sistant to  the  atmosphere.  Packages  so  prepared  may 
be  safely  kept  in  a. good  cellar.  But  it  would  be  prefer- 
able to  prepare  a  cellar  specially  for  this  use.  An  excel- 
lent one  for  this  purpose  will  be  a  two-story  cellar — so  to 
speak — or  one  that  has  a  sub-cellar  under  it.  These  are 
common  in  the  Southern  States,  but  are  seldom  seen  in 
the  North,  where,  however,  they  would  be  equally  useful, 
for  our  summers  attain  as  high  a  temperature  sometimes 
as  those  in  the  South.  These  cellars  are  made  about 
twelve  to  fifteen  feet  deep,  are  lined  with  brick  or  stone, 


308  THE    DAIRTMAX'S    MANUAL. 

and  are  providecl  with  a  winding  stair  around  the  sides, 
and  a  floor  eight  feet  from  the  bottom.  In  the  center  of 
this  floor  there  is  a  square  opening  covered  with  a  sash 
similar  to  a  skylight ;  at  one  side  is  a  trap-door  leading 
to  the  stairs.  The  lining  should  be  cleanly  whitewashed, 
which  reflects  the  liirht  and  makes  the  cellar  bright, 
clean,  and  fresh-looking.  A  raised  bench  of  brick  or 
stone  work,  at  least  eighteen  inches  high,  should  be  built 
around  the  cellar,  upon  which  the  butter  is  ranged,  as 
this  precludes  all  danger  of  earthly  contamination  when  so 
raised.  The  upper  part  of  the  building  is  raised  about 
four  feet  above  the  surface  and  covered  with  a  broad 
roof.  The  wall  above  ground  should  be  double,  with  a 
foot  of  air  space  between  the  two,  and  the  door  should 
be  protected  with  a  porch.  A  window  on  the  north  side 
only  will  be  sufficient  for  light.  The  upper  j^art  may  be 
used  for  a  dairy-room,  but  nothing  should  be  done  or 
permitted  in  it  that  could  in  any  way  cause  impurities  to 
collect  in  the  cellar  below.  The  temperature  in  a  cellar 
of  this  kind  may  be  kept  at  fifty-five  degrees  through  the 
summer,  if  it  is  opened  in  the  winter  time  so  that  the 
walls  may  be  made  cold.  Any  excess  of  dampness  may 
be  reduced  by  the  occasional  exposure  of  a  basket  of 
fresh  lime  in  the  cellar.  A  peck  of  lime  weighing 
twenty  pounds  will  absorb  three  quarts  of  water  without 
becoming  moist,  and  this  dry-slaked  lime  will  always  be 
found  useful,  so  that  there  will  be  no  waste.  The  re- 
lease of  this  moisture  from  the  walls  and  floor  of  the 
cellar  will  lower  the  temperature,  and,  with  the  water,  the 
lime  will  absorb  any  injurious  or  odorous  matter  dissolved 
or  taken  up  by  it.  A  cellar  twelve  feet  square  will  be  suffi- 
ciently large  to  store  the  butter,  and  also  to  set  the  milk, 
if  that  is  desired.  There  will  be  no  harm  in  this  to  the 
butter,  if  the  milk  is  not  spilled  about  or  suffered  to  be- 
come very  sour  in  it.  A  u ell-kept  milk-cellar  should 
have  nothing  in  it  that  could  injure  butter  that  might 


CREAMERIES.  309 

be  kept  there,  and  the  cellar  could  be  used  very  well  for 
both  purposes.  A  plan  of  this  kind  would  be  preferable 
to  the  use  of  ice,  and  would  be  cheaper  in  the  end.  The 
use  of  ice  for. the  cold  storage  of  butter  and  for  the  cool- 
ing of  dairies  will  be  treated  of  fully  in  a  future  chapter. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 
CREAMERIES. 

The  creamery  is  a  co-operative  dairy,  in  which  the 
labor  is  done  by  one  person,  either  hired  by  the  owners 
of  the  farms  which  supply  the  milk,  or  by  the  owner  of 
the  creamery.  Usually  they  are  of  two  kinds  :  private 
business  establishments  which  purchase  cream  at  a  stated 
price  from  the  patrons,  or  joint  stock  concerns  in  which 
the  capital  is  procured  by  the  sale  of  shares,  the  share- 
holders being  any  persons  who  may  desire  to  invest 
money  in  such  an  enterprise.  A  creamery  is  of  the 
greatest  advantage  in  any  community  where  a  sufficient 
number  of  cows  are  kept  within  convenient  distance  for 
gathering  the  cream,  as  a  large  number  of  families  are 
relieved  of  the  care  and  labor  of  making  butter,  by  sell- 
ing the  cream ;  the  butter  made  is  of  far  better  quality, 
being  made  under  the  best  conditions  by  one  person  who 
is  an  expert,  and  it  is  also  all  alike,  which  is  important 
in  marketing  the  produce. 

The  following  description  of  a  very  successful  creamery 
in  Connecticut  may  be  given  as  a  type  of  what  a  cream- 
ery should  be,  how  it  is  managed,  what  it  costs,  and  the 
results  gained.  It  is  a  joint-stock  concern,  having  a  capi- 
tal of  13,500,  divided  into  140  shares  of  $25  each,  and 
no  shareholder  can  hold  more  than  eight  shares.     The 


310 


THE   dairyman's   MANUAL. 


stock  is  held  mostly  by  the  patrons,  the  remainder  being 
owned  by  residents  of  the  village  in  which  it  is  situated. 
The  building  (figure  56)  is  situated  on  a  hillside,  and 
has  a  road  entirely  around  it,  which  is  "found  .a  great 
convenience  in  doing  business.  The  cream  is  thus  de- 
livered on  the  upper  floor  (figure  58)  and  is  poured 
through  the  cream-receiver  in  the  vats  on  the  low^er  floor. 
There  is  an  ice-water  tank  on  this  floor,  which  is  supplied 
from  a  spring  several  feet  above  its  level  and  a  short  dis- 
tance away  from  the  building.  This  tank  supplies  the 
cold  water  used  in  the  cream  vats  for  preserving  it  sweet 


Fig.  56.— THE   WALKILL   CREAMERY. 


in  the  hot  w^eather,  and  keeping  the  temperature  even 
during  all  the  sudden  and  violent  changes  of  it  in  the 
summer  season,  and,  in  fact,  during  the  whole  year,  for 
a  too  low^  temperature  in  the  winter  is  quite  as  disastrous 
as  a  too  high  elevation  of  it  in  the  summer. 

The  cream-room  below  is  reached  by  a  staircase.  This 
room  is  on  the  ground  floor  or  basement.  The  addition 
at  one  end  (figure  57)  contains  the  engine  and  boiler,  the 
coal  bins  and  the  office.  The  work-room  contains  two 
large  churns,  the  butter-worker,  and  a  drain  for  carrying 
away  the  buttermilk.  The  cream  is  drawn  off  from  the 
vats  by  means  of  pipes,  as  shown,  the  vats  being  elevated 


CREAMEliiES. 


an 


above  the  churns  sufficiently  for  this  purpose.  The  cream- 
room  is  furnished  with  three  cream  vats,  and  pipes  from 
the  receiver  above  carry  the  cream  into  the  vats.  Every- 
thing of  this  kind  is  done  through  pipes  ;  the  water  and 
steam  for  cleansing  the  utensils  and  floors  are  brought  in 


Fig,  57.— PLAN  OF  GROUND  FLOOR. 

this  way,  and  thus  labor  is  saved  in  every  possible  man- 
ner. The  buttermilk  is  run  into  a  large  cistern  below 
the  creamery,  and  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  it  to  avoid 
any  disagreeable  odor,  and  it  is  pumped  from  this  cistern 
into  barrels  for  those  farmers  who  may  wish  to  purchase 
it,  at  one  cent  a  gallon,  for  feeding  hogs.  The  butter- 
room  is  used  for  storing  the  butter,  and  is  furnished 


PLATFOai*    \  S_ 


Fig.  58.— PLAN  OF  UPPER  FLOOR. 

with  a  large  refrigerating  closet  for  cooling  it  in  warm 
weather.  There  is  the  only  fault  in  the  arrangement  of 
this  creamery — which  is  the  distance  of  the  butter-room 
from  the  churn.     This,  of  course,  requires  the  labor  of 


312  THE  dairymaid's  manual. 

moving  the  butter  quite  a  distance  to  the  store-room, 
when  the  store  and  packing-room  should  adjoin  the 
churuing-room.  The  arrangement,  however,  was  go 
made  on  account  of  the  ice-house  being  next  to  it,  and 
because  of  the  nature  of  the  ground  preventing  an  addi- 
tion to  the  main  building  in  the  rear,  where,  otherwise, 
the  ice-house  and  butter -room  should  rightly  be  placed. 
The  ice-house  is  at  the  end  of  the  butter-room.  This  is 
a  building  eighteen  by  twenty  feet  and  twelve  feet  high, 
finished  in  a  neat  and  complete  manner  at  a  cost  of  $180, 
and  holds  sixty-five  tons.  The  creek  which  tiows  past  the 
creamery  has  been  dammed,  and  forms  a  pond  in  which  ice 
is  cut.  Just  here  might  be  said  a  word  or  two  in  regard 
to  the  supply  of  ice  in  Southern  creameries.  It  is  by  no 
means  necessary  that  ice  should  be  a  foot  tliick  to  be  fit 
for  cutting  and  storing  for  summer  use.  If  it  is  one  inch 
thick  it  may  be  taken  up  then  as  well  as  at  any  other 
time,  for  ice  has  a  peculiar  property  called  regelation, 
by  which  it  adheres  and  freezes  together  in  a  solid  mass 
when  thin  sheets  of  it  are  placed  in  contact.  Thus,  if 
thin  ice  is  stored  during  freezing  weather,  it  is  equally 
safe  as  if  it  was  put  away  a  foot  thick,  and  it  is  rare  that 
ice  of  two  or  three  inches  thick  could  not  be  procured  in 
any  locality  where  dairying  may  be  carried  on  satisfac- 
torily. The  ice-house  for  a  creamery  in  the  South  should 
be  larger  than  one  in  the  North,  because  of  the  longer 
warm  Southern  summer ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
most  of  the  Southern  dairying  would  naturally  be  done  in 
the  winter,  when  good  grazing  is  j^ossible  for  tlie  greater 
part  or  tlie  whole  of  it,  when  the  right  arrangements  are 
made,  and  thus  the  ice  question  is  reduced  to  a  very 
easy  solution.  Yet,  it  would  be  wise  to  have  a  large  ice- 
house, and  to  have  it  divided  into  two  compartments,  one 
to  be  reserved  until  the  ot^*^  is  exhausted. 

The  cost  of  such  a  building  as  is  here  described,  con- 
structed in  the  very  latest  manner,  is  about  $1,700,  in- 


CEEAMEKIES.  313 

elusive  of  land;  water  privileges,  drains,  and  the  furniture 
all  included  would  take  $1,200  to  $1,300  more.  The 
main  building  is  forty-five  feet  long  and  twenty-five  feet 
wide  ;  the  addition  is  twenty-five  feet  long  and  seventeen 
feet  wide.  The  basement  is  brick,  with  walls  twelve 
inches  thick  and  eleven  feet  high ;  the  upper  part  is  of 
frame,  and  eight  feet  high  to  the  plates.  In  most  local- 
ities in  the  South,  and  many  places  in  the  North  and 
West,  the  building  may  be  put  up  for  much  less  money. 
In  the  Southern  States  a  very  good  and  useful  building 
of  this  size  may  be  finished  for  $1,000,  and  furnished  for 
$1,200  more.  The  cost  of  the  furniture,  of  course,  de- 
pends upon  its  completeness  and  kind,  and  the  above 
estimate  includes  the  very  best  and  most  improved  and 
effective  apparatus.  This  creamery  uses  the  cream  of 
400  cows,  and  2,000  to  2,500  pounds  of  butter  are  made 
weekly,  according  to  the  season.  This  is  quite  as  large 
a  product  as  is  consistent  with  the  most  profit.  It  is 
one  of  the  interesting  facts  in  regard  to  creameries,  that 
the  butter  sells  for  fully  one-third  more  than  can  be  pro- 
cured for  that  made  in*  small  dairies,  which  gives  the 
patrons  a  great  advantage  in  addition  to  the  saving  of 
labor.  The  work  done  in  this  creamery  in  1886  was  as 
follows: 

Buttermade,  pounds. 83,147 

Total  sales .'....$  27,125 

Paid  to  farmers 23,158 

Expenses  - 4,074 

Cost  of  making  a  pound  of  butter 41/2  cts 

EXPENSES. 

Wages  of  butter  makers $1,075  00 

Gathering  cream 1,873  85 

Delivering  butter  to  market 1,045  00 

Insurance,  taxes,  and  pastui*age  - 254  36 

Coalandsalt 183  45 

Management  and  small  expenses 642  84 

The  system  of  gathering  yie  cream  is  as  follows:  Every 
patron  uses  the  Cooley  or  submerged  system  milk  pails, 
each  holding  eighteen  quarts  of  milk.     These  are  kept 


3  I  4  THE  -DAIRYMAX'S   MANUAL. 

in  vats  of  ice  water  at  a  low  temperature  ;  so  that  when 
distant  from  the  creamery  the  ci'eam  need  not  be  gath- 
ered more  than  two  or  three  times  a  week.  Tliese  cans 
have  a  glass  window  in  the  upper  part  through  which 
the  cream  can  be  seen  as  it  separates  from  the  milk. 
This  glass  strip  is  marked  into  S2)aces  of  nineteen-sixt}-- 
fourths  of  an  inch  each,  and  the  spaces  are  taken  as  the 
standard  measurement  of  the  cream.  The  eighteen- 
quart  can  of  milk  gives  from  eight  to  seventeen  spaces 
of  cream,  as  the  quality  of  the  cows  vary.  Good  cows 
giving  more  than  poor  ones,  the  owner  gets  more  money 
from  the  milk,  and  thus  the  injustice  of  selling  milk  of 
poor  cows  for  the  same  price  per  quart  as  that  of  good 
cows  is  done  aw^ay  with,  and  every  farmer  is  paid  pre- 
cisely what  his  milk  is  actually  worth.  About  six  to 
seven  spaces  of  cream  yield  a  pound  of  butter,  varying 
from  six  and  a  half  to  seven  and  a  half,  as  the  feeding 
differs  through  the  summer.  As  the  price  paid  is  3.83 
cents  per  space,  the  average  twelve  spaces  will  ])ay  nearly 
forty-six  cents  per  eighteen-quart  can  of  milk,  from 
which  two  pounds  of  butler  'is  made,  yielding  nearly 
twenty-three  cents  a  pound  for  the  butter  without  any 
labor  or  cost  of  making  it.  In  this  creamery  the  400 
cows  produced  an  average  of  207.60  pounds  per  cow  net, 
and  free  from  labor  and  cost,  except  for  milking  and 
caring  for  the  milk. 

There  are  several  other  kinds  of  cans  used  for  raising 
cream,  but  all  are  of  the  same  character:  viz.,  they  are 
deep  and  are  set  in  ice  water,  and  have  a  standard  gauge 
for  measuring  cream.  Most  of  these  gauges  are  marked 
with  inches,  and  one  inch  is  taken  for  one  jDOund  of 
butter.  But  as  all  patrons  of  any  creamery  use  the  same 
kind  of  milk-cans  for  setting  for  cream,  every  one  stands 
on  exactly  the  same  footing  in  this  respect,  and  gets  the 
same  value  for  the  cream. 

The  advantage  of  keeping  only  good  cows  and  of  feed- 


CKEAMERIES.  315 

ing  them  well  is  apparent.  The  milk  is  drawn  by  a 
faucet  from  the  bottom  of  the  can,  leaving  the  cream, 
which  is  then  drawn  off  into  the  cream -gatherer's  pails. 
The  quantity  of  cream  is"  noted  and  a  ticket  is  given  for 
it,  and  these  tickets  are  paid  for  at  the  end  of  every 
month  in  cash  when  presented  at  the  office  of  the 
creamery.  In  co-operative  creameries  a  certain  price  is 
fixed  for  the  season,  in  accordance  with  the  price  of  but- 
ter, and  leaving  a  small  fund  in  hand,  which  is  divided 
at  the  end  of  the  season ;  or  the  price  of  the  cream  is 
raised  from  time  to  time,  as  can  be  afforded.  In  private 
creameries  the  cream  is  bought  and  paid  for  at  a  fixed 
rate  as  the  butter  market  may  afford. 

The  creamery  system  is  of  general  application,  and  may 
be  made  available  both  for  the  associated  dairies,  and  for 
large  single  dairies.  Its  greatest  and  most  effective  de- 
velopment, however,  is  through  association,  by  which  a 
large  number  of  farmers  and  small  dairymen  may  enjoy 
all  its  benefits.  There  are  creameries  which  work  up  the 
product  of  several  hundred  cows  and  are  patronized  by 
fifty  or  more  farmers.  Deep  setting  requires  much  less 
space  than  shallow  setting,  and  this  economy  of  space 
lessens  the  necessary  amount  of  floor  room  in  the  cream- 
ery, which,  of  course,  reduces  the  cost  of  the  building, 
The  cost  of  the  necessary  apparatus  for  a  600-cow 
creamery,  with  cheese-making  furniture  complete,  in- 
cluding a  six-horse  power  steam  engine  and  an  eight- 
horse  power  boiler,  amounts  to  about  $1,500.  The  cost 
of  a  small  creamery  for  butter  alone  for  eighty  to  one 
hundred  cows  would  be  little  more  than  $350,  includ- 
ing the  building,  if  the  deep  pails  be  used,  and  strict 
economy  be  exercised. 

Such  a  creamery  as  this,  arranged  on  a  low  basis  of 
cost,  may  be  constructed  as  -follows  : — A  frame  building 
with  double  walls,  the  studs  being  six  inches  wide  and 
covered  under  the  boarding  with  air-tight  roofing  paper. 


316  THE  DAIEYMAX*S  MANUAL. 

The  outside  is  of  novelty  siding  which  lies  close  upon 
the  studding;  the  inside  is  sheeted  with  narrow,  matclied 
stuff.  This  gives  a  sufficient  and  perfect  air-space  which 
equalizes  the  temperature.  The  main  building  is  thir- 
teen by  twenty-one  feet  outside,  has  two  windows,  and 
one  outside  door.  The  annex  is  nine  by  nine  feet  out- 
side and  has  an  arched  passageway,  but  no  door ;  in  this 
is  a  water  heater,  and  a  sink  provided  with  a  pump  ;  a 
window  over  the  sink  lights  this  wash-room.  The  main 
room  contains  a  pool,  six  by  twelve  feet,  which  holds  120 
eight-iuch  fourteen-quart  or  thirt3'-pound  pails,  twenty 
inches  deep.  This  will  be  sufficient  for  nearly  100  cows, 
and  it  is  best  to  have  the  pool  of  ample  size  rather  than 
barely  large  enough.  The  pool  or  vat  should  be  built 
up  of  cream-colored  brick  laid  in  cement,  and,  if  not 
wholly  sunk  in  the  floor,  should  be  inclosed  in  a  pine- 
plank  frame  strengthened  with  two  three-quarter-inch 
galvanized  iron  rods  passing  from  side  to  side  and  held 
by  washers  and  nuts  on  the  outside  of  the  frame.  A 
raised  vat  will  be  found  more  convenient  than  one  sunk 
in  the  floor,  as  stooping  will  be  avoided.  A  one-horse 
power  is  placed  under  a  shed,  with  the  driving  pulley 
brought  into  the  building ;  a  belt  from  this  works  the 
churn.  The  butter-worker  may  be  kept  in  the  wash- 
room. The  whole  floor  should  be  of  matched  pine  with 
the  joints  calked  and  the  boards  well  painted;  the  floor 
should  incline  one  inch  from  the  sides  to  the  center, 
where  a  wide  groove  or  narrow  gutter  should  lead  the 
drainage  to  a  pipe  under  the  sink  where  it  escapes  into 
the  trapped  drain.  A  pump  to  supply  water  to  the  vat, 
if  needed,  may  be  set  near  the  vat  and  worked  by  a  belt 
from  the  horse  power.  Both  the  pumps  may  be  con- 
nected with  one  well  near  the  house,  if  running  water  is 
not  available.  This  plan  may  be  adapted  to  small  private 
dairies,  and  the  smallest  dairy  may  be  arranged  in  a 
similar  manner.     A  hanging  rack  above  the  vat  may  be 


CREAMERIES. 


317 


provided  to  hold  the  spare  pails  and  utensils  that  are  not 
in  use,  so  that  the  space  occupied  by  the  vat  will  not  be 
lost.  A  ventilator  should  be  made  in  the  roof  and  the 
building  should  have  half  a  story  above  the  main  floor  to 
aid  in  the  ventilation.  An  extra  pump  should  be  located 
in  some  convenient  place. 

For  a  large  creamery  the  following  plan  and  specifica- 
tions, given  by  a  leading  creamery  furnisher,  will  be 


fSEVtmE 


comPooM 


BOfUff 


BOILER  ROOW 


£NGINE 


COLO  ROOM 


Q 


VAT300QAL 


Fig,  59.— PLAN  OF  CREAMERY. 


found  useful  (figure  59).  The  main  creamery  build- 
ing is  20  X  40  feet  ;  ice-house  20  x  30  feet  ;  boiler-room 
16  X  18  feet;  divided  as  follows  :  Main  part  divided  into 
five  rooms.  Eeceiving  room  9  x  20,  slanting  floor  and 
drain.     Can  be  used  for  receiving  and   straining  the 


318  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

cream,  washing  cans,  etc.  Floor  elevated  four  feet  above 
sills.  Cream  room  13  x  20  feet,  with  slant  floor  draining 
on  the  churn  floor,  floor  elevated  two  feet  above  sills;  used 
as  a  cream-tempering  room.  Churn  room  9  x  20  feet, 
floor  on  level  with  sills,  slanting  towards  cream  room, 
with  drain  at  the  junction  with  elevated  floor  of  cream 
room.  Butter  room  10x10  feet,  slant  floor,  drain  con- 
nects with  main  drain  in  churn  room.  Cold  room  No. 
1,  10  X  10  feet,  used  for  storage  for  salt,  tubs,  butter, . 
etc.  Cold  storage  room  No.  2,  for  storing  butter,  is 
10  X  10  feet,  built  in  the  ice-house  and  covered  with  gal- 
vanized iron,  and  is  surrounded  with  ice. 

The  creamery  is  built  as  follows  :  Joist  for  elevated 
floor,  2x8,  spiked  to  studs  supported  in  center  with 
4x6  timbers,  shored  up  on  pillars.  Ends  shored  up 
with  2x4  studs ;  outside  walls  2x4  studding,  12  feet 
long.  On  outside  of  studs  nail  rough  inch  boards  ;  paper 
with  building  paper,  fur  on  it  with  inch  strips  ;  side 
with  drop  siding,  or  stock-boards  stripped ;  on  inside  of 
studs,  rough  board,  paper,  fur  out  with  inch  strips  and 
ceil  with  fence  flooring,  ceiling  overhead  with  fence  floor- 
ing ;  floor  laid  with  clear  flooring ;  partitions  ceiled  on 
studs  set  flat  ways,  on  both  sides,  leaving  two-inch  air 
space.  Cream  and  churn  rooms  can  be  in  one,  or  par- 
titioned, as  desired. 

The  above-described  creamery  has  capacity  sufficient 
to  manufacture  from  700  to  1,200  pounds  of  butter  a 
day.  To  enlarge  its  capacity  add  to  the  width  of  main 
building.  The  raised  floors  are  constructed  for  conven- 
ience in  handling  cream.  Cream  taken  into  receiving 
room,  strained  and  carried  into  vats  through  conductor 
pipes ;  also  from  vats  to  churns,  through  conductor 
pipe,  saving  all  lifting  of  cream  in  cans,  rendering  it 
possible  for  one  man  to  do  one-half  more  work  than  in  a 
creamery  without  raised  floors.  An  office  can  be  taken 
oS  of  wash-room  if  desired. 


CREAMERIES.  319 

The  following  list  of  apparatus  is  suitable  for  this  size 
creamery: 

1  6  H.  P.  Engine  with  Vertical  Boiler  all  complete $  315.00 

3  300  gaUon  Steam  Vats  @  $40.00 120.00 

2250      "      Creamery  Churns®  35.00-.... 70.00 

1  Power  Butter  Worker - -- 50.00 

1  Covered  Crank  Suction  and  Force  Pump. 25,00 

1  240tt)  Union  Family  Scale -  -  6.00 

1  Butter  Saltmg  Scale 5.00 

2Butter  Ladles@25 - 50 

2  14rquai't  Iron  Clad  Milk  Pails  @  1.00 2.00 

16  feet  riie  Main  Shafting  @  55 - 8.88 

6    "    Counter           "           l^ie  55  @. 3.30 

6  rU  Drop  Hangers  @  3.50 - 21.00 

1  Pulley  24x5xl-li6 - --- --        ^.76 

-1       "      16x5xl-|i6 - 4.40 

2  "      12x  Sxl'liB  flat  face  @  4.60 9.20 

2       "      12x  5  xPIi6  round  face  @  3.50. :.  7.00 

1       "        6x6xlMi6flat - 2.80 

400  Common  Sense  Cream  Setting  Pails. 300.00 

12  30-gallon  Jacketed  Cream  Carrying  Cans 126.00 

$1,082.75 

The  following  will  be  found  a  complete  bill  of  material 
for  this  creamery  as  shown  in  the  plan  (figure  65). 

MATERIAL    FOK    MAIN   BUILDING. 

For  SiUs  6  pieces  6  x  8,  20  ft.  long 

u      u    2      "         "20     " 

"    Lower  Joist,  32  pieces  2  x  8,  20  ft.  long. 
For  Upper  Joist,  32  pieces  2x6,  20  ft.  long. 
)  For  Rafters,  42  pieces  2  x  6,  14  ft.  long. 

"    Studding,  109  pieces  2  x  4,  14  ft.  long. 
For  Flooring  1,000  ft. 

"    Siding  1,900  ft. 

"    Casing  and  Cornice  1,200  ft. 

"    Sheathing,  4,100  ft. 
For  Ceiling  4,300  ft. 

"    Strips  1  x2in.,  900. 

"    Paper  2,(500  square  ft. 

"    Shingles  10,000. 

MATERIAL    FOR    ICE-HOUSE. 

For  Sills  2  pieces  6  x  8,  30  ft.  long. 
(<      u    2      "         *'      20    " 
"    Rafters  32  pieces  2  x  6,  14  ft.  long. 
"    Studding  G2  pieces  2  x  6,  12  ft.  long. 


320  THE 

For  Sheathing  and  Roof  Boards,  2,300  ft. 

For  Siding  1,750  ft. 

For  Coniice  and  Casing  300  ft. 

"    Strips  1x2  in.,  300  ft. 

"    Shingles  9,000. 

"    Paper  1,400  square  ft. 

MATERIAL     FOR    BOILER-ROOM. 

For  Sills  2  pieces  6  x  8, 18  ft.  long. 

u      u    2      "         "      16      '* 

"    Studs  40  2x4  12  ft.  long. 

"    Rafters  14  2  x  4,  18  ft.  long. 

"    Sheathing  1,000  ft.  CeiUng  Joist  3  x  4,  16  ft.  long. 
For  Siding  800  ft. 
For  Shingles  3,000. 
12  10  X 16  12-light  windows. 
One  Keg  of  6  d  Nails. 

((      (<         g         (( 

•  (  U  IQ  U 

U  U  20  " 

75  S).  of  4d  " 

Labor  equivalent  to  four  men's  work  for  25  days. 

The  lumber  bill  includes  material  for  window  casings 
and  doors.  It  will  take  about  five  and  a  half  rolls  of 
sheathing  paper,  costing  about  $5.50  total.  The  cost 
of  the  lumber,  including  shingles,  may  be  estimated  at 
$512.25.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  total  cost  of  the 
creamery,  according  to  the  plans  and  specifications  here 
given,  is  as  follows,  viz: 

Cost  of  lumber,  including  shingles $  512.25 

Windows  glazed 27.72 

Sheathing  paper 5.50 

Nails 14.25 

Labor,  100  days  at  $2.50  aday.... 250.00 

Cost  of  machinery  and  outfit 1,082.85 

Total  cost $1,892.57 

The  method  of  gathering  the  cream  from  the  patrons 
and  valuing  it,  has  been  fully  explained  in  a  previous 
chapter  and  needs  no  reference  here.  The  manage- 
ment of  a  combined  creamery  and  cheese  factory  for  the 
utilization  of  the  whole  milk  will  be  described  in  a  future 
chapter. 


CKEAMERIES.  3:^1 

Before  closing  this  chapter,  the  following  directions, 
given  by  Mr.  John  Gould,  of  Ohio,  a  well-known  dairy 
expert,  for  the  information  of  persons  about  to  embark 
in  the  creamery  and  factory  business,  may  be  read  with 
much  benefit.  The  information  given  relates  more  par- 
ticularly to  Ohio  and  the  Western  States. 

"A.  suitable  building  vail  cost  $300  to  $600,  according 
to  construction,  and  the  machinery  as  much  more.  It 
is  always  better  to  get  estimates  from  reliable  houses 
in  the  dairy  furnishing  business.  Don't  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  '  creamery  sharks '  who  rope  in  the  farmers 
only  to  wreck  the  business  and  make  $5,000  by  the 
operation.     Deal  only  with  the  best  houses  and  firms. 

''  A  creamery  can  afford  to  pay  what  cream  is  worth, 
not  what  inferior  store  butter  will  bring.  An  inch  of 
cream  in  the  common  deep  pails  represents  a  pound 
of  the  finest  creamery  butter,  worth  in  the  market  three 
or  four  times  that  of  poor,  white  store  butter.  Cream 
should  be  purchased  on  the  basis  of  what  fine  butter 
brings  in  New  York,  Find  out  by  correspondence  what 
It  will  cost  to  collect  the  cream,  make  and  market  the 
butter ;  add  a  reasonable  sum  for  your  investment,  and 
give  the  rest  to  your  patrons.  Cream  should  be  bought 
about  five  cents  below  New  York  butter  prices. 

"  Butter  and  cheese  can  be  made  with  well  water  if  it 
can  be  had  in  abundance.  A  butter-room  papered  on 
both  sides  of  double  walls  will  be  all  right  if  a  shallow 
tank  of  running  water  is  kept  in  it.  Ship  the  butter  as 
fast  as  made.  The  market  has  got  through  paying  fancy 
prices  for  ^storage'  butter.  A  room  to  keejy  butter  in 
IS  not  needed.  Don't  set  up  a  summer  butter  factory 
The  market  now  has  threefold  too  much  butter  in  the 
summer  and  not  enough  in  winter.  This  makes  high 
prices  m  winter  and  low  prices  in  summer.  It  costs  no 
more  to  winter  a  cow  that  gives  thirtv  pounds  of  butter 
per  month  than  to  winter  a  dry  cow,  if  one  goes  at  it 


322  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

right.     The  produce  of  the  winter  milker  brings  two  and 
a  half  times  as  much  as  that  of  the  summer  cow. 

*'  The  drainage  should  be  good.  Large  sewer  pipes 
are  good  if  you  have  water  enough  to  flush  them. 

*'A  cellar  is  not  objectionable  under  a  factory.     The 
trouble  is  to  get  floors  that  are  water  tight ;  if   they  are' 
not  tight  the  cellar  is  bad  business. 

^^  On  the  Western  (Ohio)  Reserve,  as  a  rule,  the  milk 
is  all  made  into  cheese.  In  a  less  dense  dairy  district  it 
might  be  better  to  sell  the  cream  to  a  factory  and  feed 
the  milk  on  the  farm  ;  that  is,  if  fed  sweet,  and  with  grain. 
If  it  is  allowed  to  sour  there  is  little  profit  in  feeding  it. 

'^Factories  pay  a  sliding  scale  of  prices  for  milk, 
governed  largely  by  the  price  of  cheese  in  New  York. 
Last  year  the  price  of  all  new  milk  ranged  from  80  cents 
to  $1.20  per  100  pounds,  from  spring  to  fall.  During 
the  five  winter  mouths  it  was  about  $1.35.  In  summer 
the  farmer  delivers  twice  a  day;  in  winter,  once,  but  no 
cream  is  taken  off. 

'^  The  profit  of  the  different  kinds  of  cheese  depends 
upon  the  kind  made.  The  best  quality  of  American 
cheese  sells  better  than  Switzer  or  any  other  imitation  of 
the  foreign  kinds,  unless  they  are  of  first  rate  quality. 

*^If  the  milk  or  cream  is  sold,  the  buyer  owns  the 
buttermilk.  At  the  cheese  factory  the  buttermilk  is 
very  apt  to  find  its  way  into  the  cheese  vats,  especially 
since  sweet  cream  butter  is  demanded  by  the  market.  At 
a  patron  factory  it  would  be  run  into  the  whey  vats,  and 
any  patron  who  would  be  foolish  enough  to  want  to  haul 
home  some  whey  swill,  would  get  his  share. 

'*  It  takes  all  the  way  from  nine  to  eleven  pounds  of 
milk,  and  often  more,  to  make  a  pound  of  cheese,  ac- 
cording to  the  season,  early  or  late,  and  the  amount  of 
butter  that  has  first  been  taken  from  the  milk.  A  hun- 
dred pounds  of  skim  milk  is  rich  in  cheese,  but  poor  in 
quality. 


CKEAMEEIES.  323 

"The  quantity  of  milk  for  a  pound  of  butter  depends 
altogether  upon  the  cows  and  their  feed.  Butter  cows 
would  do  it  with  from  fourteen  to  eighteen  pounds  of 
milk.  ''General  purpose  cows  "  want  from  twenty-two 
to  thirty-one  pounds,  and  some  cows  would  require  fifty 
pounds  of  milk  to  make  a  pound  of  butter.  Average 
dairies  require  somewhere  about  twenty-five  pounds  of 
milk  to  make  a  pound  of  butter. 

''  Patron  are  paid  at  the  factories  usually,  once  per 
month,  in  checks  on  the  nearest  bank.  Usually  this  is 
about  the  fifteenth  of  the  month.  April  milk  or  cream 
will  be  paid  for  on  May  15.  Patron  factories  usually  pro 
rata  their  sales  whenever  made. 

*' A  practical  butter  maker  usually  receives  about  $50 
to  $60  per  month,  and  board.  A  good  man  is  worth 
1200  per  month  over  a  poor  one.  A  poor  one  should  not 
be  tolerated.  The  best  man  is  always  the  cheapest. 
Good  butter  and  cheese  makers  are  often  combined  in 
the  same  man. 

''  Cream  collectors  are  usually  paid  by  the  day  or 
month.  The  collector  usually  furnishes  his  own  team, 
and  working  by  the  day  is  the  best  plan. 

''  The  per  cent  profit  that  could  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected on  the  investment  of,  say  an  800-cow  creamery 
would  be  difficult  to  decide.  It  is  a  purely  business  ven- 
ture, and  is  governed  exactly  like  any  other  speculation. 
You  must  first  know  your  business  or  you  will  get  left. 
You  must  fix  prices  so  that  you  can  stand  a  big  drop  in 
butter  in  August,  and  if  it  drops  lower  than  that,  out 
drops  your  profit  and  some  more  money  with  it.  It 
would  be  a  good  thing  to  study  the  market  reports  for 
the  past  five  years,  and  get  some  value  out  of  'dry 
figures.'  You  are  as  liable  to  'get  left'  on  your  inch 
of  cream  as  a  basis  of  a  pound  of  butter  as  upon  any- 
thing. You  are  apt  to  find  afterwards  that  it  only 
churns  out  about  twelve  ounces  of  butter.     There  can 


324 

only  be  one  way  to  buy  cream  safely,  and  that  is  by  the 
oil  test — pay  for  the  butter  fats  in  it  as  demonstrated 
by  hot  water.  Then  you  are  not  paying  for  a  thing  you 
do  not  get,  nor  is  another  man  selling  more  butter  fats 
than  he  gets  credit  for.  If  there  are  twenty  ounces  of 
butter  fat  in  liis  inch  of  cream,  he  gets  paid  for  it,  and 
justice  is  done  all  around.  And  the  cream  buyer  is  safe 
in  this,  that  the  estimates  of  the  oil  test  are  verified 
by  the  final  churn  test.  It  makes  the  farmer  '  squirm  ' 
who  finds  it  takes  thirty-fiye  pounds  of  milk  from  his 
dairy  to  make  a  pound  of  butter,  and  is  credited  with 
this  amount,  and  another  farmer  gets  credit  for  a  pound 
for  every  twenty  pounds  of  milk." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 
ICE-HOUSES. 

A  LIBERAL  supply  of  icc  is  indispensable  for  a  dairy 
which  is  operated  in  the  summer.  A  winter  dairy,  on 
the  contrary,  requires  some  expenditure  for  fuel.  As 
regards  cost  there  is  little  difference.  Even  the  family 
dairy  requires  a  supply  of  ice  to  iH'eserve  the  milk  and 
cream  in  good  condition  during  the  hottest  weather,  but 
the  business  dairy  and  the  creamery  cannot  be  carried  on 
without  it.  With  the  ice-house  is  also  required  a  cold 
storage  room,  for  keeping  the  butter. 

The  requisites  for  a  supply  of  ice  are — first,  a  pond  of 
clean  pure  water ;  second,  a  well-constructed  house ; 
and  third,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  dry  clean  sawdust  or 
other  similar  material  for  packing.  A  small  ice-house 
will  be  sufficient  for  a  family  dairy,  and  the  supply  may 
be  generally  procured  from  some  adjacent  mill-pond  or  a 
pond  made  by  damming  a  stream  for  the  purpose  of  rai$- 


ICE-HOUSES.  325 

ing  a  sufficient  area  of  water.  As  forty  cubic  feet  of  ice 
make  a  ton,  a  space  ten  by  eight  feet  will  yield  one  ton 
of  ice,  if  it  is  six  inches  thick.  A  pond,  then,  one  hun- 
dred by  eighty  feet,  will  yield  one  hundred  tons,  if  of  no 
greater  thickness  than  this.  As  ice  is  usually  sold  on 
the  pond  for  one  dollar  per  ton,  an  ice  pond  will  be  found 
an  excellent  investment  in  any  dairy  country.  All  that 
is  required  is  a  clear  running  stream,  with  low  banks 
bordered  by  flat  bottom  land.  A  dam  may  be  thrown 
across  the  stream  to  back  the  water  up  to  the  higher 
ground  on  each  side. 

The  dam  must  be  built  upon  sound  principles,  or  it 
will  not  retain  the  water.  The  bottom  must  rest  on 
solid  fresh  ground,  free  from  stone,  grass,  or  decaying 


Fig.    60.— SECTION   OF   DAM   AND   POND. 

vegetable  matter.  The  following  method  will  be  found 
satisfactory.  A  trench  three  feet  wide  is  dug  out  on  the 
line  of  the  dam  down  to  solid  ground,  clay,  or  hard  pan. 
Stakes  are  then  driven  in  the  middle  of  the  trench  reach- 
ing as  high  as  the  top  of  the  intended  dam,  and  tongued 
and  grooved  or  otherwise  tightly-fitted  planks  are  nailed 
to  these  stakes.  Solid  earth  is  then  packed  and  puddled 
in  the  trench  on  both  sides  of,  the  planks,  and  the  dam 
is  then  raised  to  the  bight  desired  over  this  foundation 
(figure  60).  The  slope  of  the  dam  should  be  such  as 
to  make  a  six-foot  dam  nine  feet  wide  at  the  bottom  on 
the  inside  and  six  feet  wide  on  the  outside,  or  fifteen  feet 
in  all.  This  slojDe  is  needed  to  prevent  leakage  and  the 
washing  down  of  the  soil.  The  earth  for  the  dam  may 
be  dug  out  of  the  intended  pond. 


326  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

The  house  for  storing  the  ice  must  be  made  with  non- 
conducting walls,  a  dry  foundation,  and  ample  ventila- 
tion in  the  roof.  A  cheap  ice-house  is  as  effective,  if 
properly  constructed,  as  the  most  costly  one.  There  are 
some  general  principles  to  be  observed  in  the  proper 
construction  of  any  kind  of  ice-house,  and  all  else  is  of 
secondary  importance.  There  must  be  perfect  drainage, 
and  no  admission  of  air  beneath;  ample  ventilation  and 
perfect  dryness  above  ;  and  sufficient  non-conductipg 
material  for  packmg  below,  above,  and  around  the  ice, 
by  which  its  low  temperature  may  be  preserved.  The 
cheapest  ice-house  may  be  made  as  follows  :  The  founda- 
tion should  be  dug  about  eighteen  inches  to  two  feet 
deep  in  a  dry,  gravelly  or  sandy  soil.  If  the  soil  is  clay, 
the  foundation  should  be  dug  two  feet  deeper,  and  filled 
to  that  extent  with  broken  bricks,  coarse  gravel,  or 
clean,  sharp  sand.  To  make  a  drain  beneath  the  ice  of 
any  other  kind  than  this  would  be  risky,  and  if  not  made 
with  the  greatest  care  to  prevent  access  of  air,  the  drain 
would  cause  the  loss  of  the  ice  in  a  few  weeks  of  warm 
weather.  Around  the  inside  of  the  foundation  are  laid 
sills  of  two  by  six  plank,  and  upon  this  are  ^^ toe-nailed" 
studs  of  the  same  size,  ten  feet  long,  at  distances  of  four 
feet  apart.  Around  these,  matched  boards  or  patent 
siding  are  then  nailed  horizontally.  A  door  frame  is 
made  at  one  end,  or  if  the  building  is  over  twenty  feet 
long,  one  maybe  made  at  each  end  for  convenience  in 
filling.  When  the  outside  boarding  reaches  the  top  of 
the  frame,  plates  of  two  by  six  timber  are  spiked  to  the 
studs.  Rafters  of  two  by  four  scantling  are  then  spiked 
to  the  frame  over  the  studs;  a  cpiarter  pitch  being  suffi- 
cient, or  if  felt  roofing  is  used,  a  flat  roof  with  a  very 
little  slope  might  be  used.  In  this  latter  case,  however, 
the  hight  of  the  building  should  be  increased  at  least  one 
foot,  to  secure  sufficient  air  space  above  the  ice  for  ven- 
tilation.   The  roof  may  be  of  common  boards  or  shingles, 


ICE-HOUSES. 


327 


or  of  asbestos  roofing ;  but  the  roof  must  be  perfectly 
water-proof,  and  should  have  broad  eaves  to  shade  the 
walls  as  much  as  possible  from  the  sun's  heat.  The  out- 
side of  the  building,  roof  included,  should  be  white- 
washed, so  as  to  reflect  heat.  The  inside  of  the  building 
should  be  lined  with  good  boards  placed  horizontally, 
and  the  space  between  the  two  boardings  should  be  filled 
closely  with  the  packing.  If  packing  material  is  scarce, 
air-proof  lining,  such  as  is  used  in  the  walls  of  dwelling- 
houses,  may  be  substituted  for  it;  but  the  joints  in  this 
case  should  be  carefully  made,  that  the  outside  air  may 


Fig.  61.— SECTION  OF  ICE-HOUSE  FILLED. 

be  excluded  and  that  within  the  wall  be  kept  stationary. 
In  figure  61  is  shown  a  section  of  the  house  filled  with 
ice;  the  lining  between  the  walls  is  shown  by  the  dark 
shading.  The  packing  around  the  ice  should  be  a  foot 
thick  at  the  bottom  and  the  sides,  and  two  feet  at  the 
top.  There  should  be  a  capacious  ventilator  at  the  top 
of  the  liouse,  and  the  spaces  above  the  plates  and  between 
the  rafters  at  the  eaves  will  permit  a  constant  current  of 
air  to  pass  over  the  upper  packing,  and  remove  the  col- 
lected vapor.     The  method  of  closing  the  doors  is  shown 


328 


THE   DAIRYMAX'S   MANUAL. 


at  figure  (j2.  Boards  are  placed  across  tlie  inside  of  the 
door  as  the  ice  is  packed,  until  the  top  is  reached.  Rye 
or  other  long  straw  is  tied  into  bundles,  as  shown  in  the 
illustration,  and  these  bundles  are  packed  tightly  into 
the  space  between  the  boards  and  the  door.  The  door 
is  then  closed.  We  have  found  these  straw  bundles  to 
seal  up  the  door-space  of  an  ice-house  in  summer,  as  well 
as  the  door  of  a  root-cellar  in  winter,  very  effectively. 
AVhen  the  house  is  opened  in  the  summer,  and  the  upper 
packing  is  disturbed  to  reach  the  ice,  it  should  always  be 


Fig.  62.— DOCK  FOB  ICE-HOUSE. 

carefully  replaced,  and  the  door  closed  up  again  with  the 
straw  bundles.  The  bundles  of  straw  may  be  fastened 
together  by  means  of  two  or  three  cross-laths,  and  they 
can  be  removed  and  replaced  very  readily.  The  mate- 
rial rftquired  for  a  house  such  as  is  here  described, 
twenty  feet  long,  sixteen  feet  wide,  and  ten  feet  high, 
and  which  will  hold  over  sixty  tons  of  ice,  is  as  follows  : 
324  feet  2x6  studding;  12  rafters  2x4,  12  feet  long; 
576  feet  matched  boards ;  720  feet  boards  for  lining  ;  480 
feet  rooting  boards,  3,000  shingles,  or  480  feet  of  roofing; 
one  batten  door,  hinges  and  nails.     About  twenty-five 


ICE-HOUSES.  329 

wagon  loads  of  sawdust  or  other  non-conductor  would  be 
needed  for  a  house  of  this  size. ' 

The  best  packing  is  dry  hard-wood  sawdust.     About 
seven  hundred  bushels  will  be  required  for  a  house  twelve 
feet  square,  and  ten  feet  high,  to  give  an  ample  supply. 
If  sawdust  cannot  be  procured,  dry  waste  tan  bark  will 
do  very  well;  dry  swamp  muck,  forest  leaves,  cut  straw 
chaff,  or  chaff  from  the  threshing  machine,  are  all  very 
good  substitutes ;  but  an  open  air  space  is  only  about 
forty  per  cent  as  effective  as  any  one  of  these  substances. 
A  house  twelve  feet  square  will  hold  a  mass  of  ice  ten 
feet  square,  which  will  give  about  five  thousand  pounds 
for  each  foot  in  hight,  yielding  a  supply  of  one  hundred 
pounds   daily,  for  about   two   months.      One   hundred 
pounds  of  ice  will  cool  one  hundred  pounds  of  water 
from  one   hundred  and   seventy-four   degrees   down  to 
thirty- two  degrees,  absorbing  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
deo-rees  of  heat  from  the  water,  in  the  slow  process  of 
liquefaction  alone.     These  figures  will  enable  any  person 
to  calculate  how  much  ice  may  be  required  for  any  specified 
effect.    Thus  as  one  hundred  pounds  of  ice  absorbs  four- 
teen thousand  and  two  hundred  units  of  heat,  and  we 
want  to  cool  seven  hundred  and  ten  pounds  of  milk  from 
sixty-five  to  forty-five  degrees,  we  shall  find  that  the  ice 
will  just  do  it,  because  seven  hundred  and  ten  pounds 
cooled  twenty  degrees  equals  fourteen  thousand  and  two 
hundred  units.     In  the  use  of  ice,  it  is  therefore  seen  to 
be  a  great  economy  to  cool  the  milk  down  to  just  as  low 
a  point  as  possible,  by  means  of  cold  well  or  spring  water, 
before  it  is  set  in  the  ice-water  pool.     For  a  three  hun- 
dred  quart   dairy,   or   for   twenty-five   cows,  then,   one 
hundred  pounds  of  ice  will  be  required  daily,  and  for  the 
season  of   eight   months,   when   ice   may  be  necessary, 
the  ten  feet  square  of  ice  should  be  raised  eight  feet, 
which  will  allow  for  waste,  which  is  usually  about  forty 
or  fifty  per  cent  on  the  average  of  the  season.     The  re- 


330  THE 

ceptacle  may  be  made  in  a  corner  of  a  barn  or  shed, 
or  a  plain  shed  may  be  made  out-of-doors,  or  a  space  in 
a  mow  of  straw  may  be  utilized ;  any  device  is  effective, 
if  only  the  above  named  requisites  are  secured. 

A  very  simjjle  ice-house  is  made  in  this  way.  Nine 
poles  are  set  in  the  ground  in  a  spot  where  surface  water 
will  not  give  trouble.  Boards  twelve  feet  long  are  nailed 
to  the  posts  lengthwise  all  around,  and  the  corners  are 
covered  with  strips,  lapping  one  on  to  the  edge  of  the 
other,  to  make  a  neat  and  close  finish.  The  boards  are 
cut  out  between  the  two  posts  in  the  center  of  the  front 
to  make  a  doorway,  and  two  inch  door-cheeks  and  lintel 
are  spiked  to  these  posts.  The  boards  from  the  inside 
are  kept  for  the  loose  inside  door,  to  be  put  in  one  by 
one,  resting  against  the  door-cheeks,  as  the  ice  is  filled 
in,  and  the  outer  boards  are  nailed  with  wrought  nails 
to  upright  cleats  to  make  a  door.  The  spaces  between 
the  doors  are  filled  in  with  sawdust ;  two-inch  planks  are 
spiked  on  the  posts  flat  for  plates,  and  a  conical  roof 
with  broad  eaves,  left  open  at  the  plates  for  ventilation, 
is  put  in.  The  ice  is  packed  in  as  shown  in  figure  61, 
and  has  eighteen  inches  of  sawdust  under  it,  and  a  foot 
on  each  side  around  it.  A  covering  of  eighteen  inches 
should  be  put  on  top.  In  cutting  the  ice,  care  is  to  be 
taken  to  get  the  blocks  of  even  size,  so  as  to  pack  it 
closely.  A  convenient  tool  with  which  to  get  the  ice 
out  of  the  water  is  made  of  a  piece  of  board  about  six 
or  seven  feet  long,  with  a  handle  put  through  one  end, 
and  a  cleat  nailed  on  the  other  end  to  hold  the  ice. 
This  slippery  stuff  is  held  more  firmly  if  a  few  sharp- 
pointed  nails  are  driven  through  from  the  back,  so  that 
the  points  project  about  an  inch. 

A  very  neat  building  suitable  for  an  ice-house  for  a 
private  dairy  is  shown  at  figure  G3.  This  house  is  twelve 
feet  square,  with  sills  and  plates  eight -by-eight  inches, 
cf  hewn  logs,  and  eight-by-eight-inch  corner  posts,  eight 


ICE-HOUSES. 


331 


feet  high.  Studding  is  set  in  as  needed.  Eough  (or 
planed)  boards  are  nailed  horizontally  within  and  per- 
pendicularly without,  and  the  cracks  battened  with  nar- 
row strips.  The  wall  space  is  filled  with  sawdust.  Dry 
wheat  chaff  might  be  used  in  the  absence  of  sawdust. 
The  roof  is  of  single  boards,  with  a  ventilating  opening 
at  the  top.  The  doors  are  single,  with  short  cross-boards 
inside  to  hold  the  ice  up.     The  ice  is  packed  in  solid. 


Fig.  63.— ICE-HOUSE  FOR  PRIVATE  DAIRY. 

except  a  space  of  six  or  eight  inches  all  around  filled  with 
sawdust.  When  full,  a  foot  or  so  of  sawdust  is  put  on 
top  of  the  ice.  The  flooring  is  of  inch  boards  laid  on  a 
bed  of  cobble  stones. 

A  rustic  ice-house  on  the  farm  of  Donald  G.  Mitchell, 
the  popular  writer,  is  shown  at  figure  64.  It  is  given 
here  to  show  how  simple  a  thing  a  really  effective  ice- 
house may  be,  and  that  the  materials  for  its  construction 
are  wholly  immaterial  so  long  as  the  principles  before 
mentioned  are  effectively  carried  out. 

Cold  storage  is  indispensable  for  the  preservation  of 
butter  made  in  the  summer  time  ;  and  at  times  it  is  a 
matter  of  convenience  to  use  ice  for  the  cooling  of  the 


332  THE  dairyman's  maxual. 

pool  ill  which  the  milk  is  kept  for  the  cream  to  separate. 
In  considering  the  cooling  effect  of  ice  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  low  temjjerature  is  only  gained  by 
the  expenditure  of  the  ice,  aud  that  it  is  a  question  if 
it  is  better  to  make  use  of  an  ice-house  constructed  in 
the  most  economical  manner,  or  to  so  use  the  ice  as  to 
procure  a  continuous  low  temperature  with  the  certain 
large  waste  of  ice  that  would  be  inevitable.  There 
may  be  some  cases,  however,  in  which  the  ease  of  op- 
erating a  cooling  apparatus  may  be  more  convenient, 
although  it  may  consume  more  ice,  than  to  handle 
blocks  of  ice  in  carrying  them  from  the  ice-house  to  the 


Fig.  64.— RUSTIC   ICE-HOUSE. 

creamery  for  use.  Where  ice  is  abundant  this  view  of 
the  question  may  be  reasonably  considered.  A  point 
that  bears  strongly  upon  it  is  that  the  ice  may  be  stored 
in  the  winter  when  the  labor  may  cost  comparatively 
nothing,  because  there  is  plenty  of  time  and  opportunity 
for  the  work,  aud  in  summer  time  is  more  valuable  and 
business  presses  closely  upon  opportunities,  so  that  the 
handling  of  tlie  ice  in  the  summer  would,  in  fact,  be 
more  irksome  and  costly  than  the  waste  involved.  For 
to  open  the  ice-house,  take  out  the  blocks  required,  carry 


ICE-HOUSES 


333 


them  to  the  creamery,  wash  from  them  the  sawdust  or 
other  packing,  and  dispose  of  them  as  may  be  required, 
is,  we  know  from  experience,  work  which  occupies  con- 
siderable time,  when  time  is  scarcely  to  be  spared  from 
other  pressing  duties.  The  good  manager  will  aim  to 
distribute  his  work  so  that  it  may  be  done  in  the  easiest 
manner  consistent  with  the  best  results,  and  as  time  is 
money,  time  gained  when 
it  is  worth  the  most  money 
is  equivalent  to  three  or 
four  times  as  much  ex- 
pended w^hen  it  is  very 
cheap.  AVe  will  give  a 
plan  that  will  be  suitable 
for  each  method,  leaving 
those  interested  to  choose 
between  them.  A  self- 
acting  ice-house  may  be 
constructed  in  the  usual 
manner,  but  requires  the 
addition  of  ventilating 
tubes  through  which  cold 
air  may  be  brought  into 
the  cooling  room ;  and 
drainage  pipes  by  which 
the  water  produced  by  the 
^necessary  melting  of  the 
ice  may  be  drav.n  off  from 
the  bottom  into  a  cold  pool 
where  it  may  be  utilized 

to  the  best  advantage.  A  horizontal  section  or  plan 
of  an  ice-house  of  this  description  is  given  at  fig- 
ure 65.  Here  the  ice-house  adjoining  the  creamery  is 
shown.  Through  the  body  of  the  ice  are  four  zinc  or 
galvanized  iron  pipes  or  tubes  having  a  number  of  holes 
bored  through  the  covering  at  the  top  to  admit  the  air. 


Fiff.  65. 

PLAN   OF   CBEAMEKT  AND    ICE-HOUSE, 

A  horizontal   section 


334 


THE   DAIRTMAK'S  MAN'UAL. 


The  spiral  galvanized  water  spouting  for  buildings  serves 
excellently  for  this  purpose.  These  pipes  are  brought 
along  the  bottom,  as  sliown  at  figure  (jG,  which  is  an  up- 
right section,  and  open  into  the  creamery  on  each  side 
of  the  cold  pool.  The  current  of  air  which  passes 
tlirough  these  pipes  of  course  melts  and  uses  up  the 
ice  and  causes  a  quantity  of  cold  water  to  be  produced 
which  must  be  drawn  off,  or  the  whole  body  of  ice  would 
rapidly  waste.  The  floor  of  the  ice-house  is  made  to 
slope  a  little  from  each  side  to  the  center,  and  the  center 
slopes  to  the  front  just  enough  to  cause  the  drainage  to 
flow  into  a  pipe  provided  to  receive  it.     This  pipe  is 

protected  by  a  fine  wire- 
gauze  covering  to  prevent 
the  packing  from  being 
washed  away.  The  pipe 
is  carried  down  through 
the  ground  and  made  to 
discharge  at  the  bottom  of 
the  pool.  This  is  impor- 
tant, for  if  it  discharged 
into  the  top,  air  would 
pass  into  the  ice  through 
it  and  waste  it  considera- 
bly. The  outlet  of  the  pipe  being  always  covered  with 
water  prevents  any  access  of  air  through  it. 

At  figure  67  is  shown  the  front  view  of  the  wall  of  the 
creamery 'with  the  openings  of  the  cold-air  pipes  and  the 
tank  between  them.  On  one  side  may  be  made  a  refrig- 
erating closet  for  keeping  butter  in,  or  one  may  be  made 
on  each  side  if  desired.  This  provides  cold  storage  of 
the  most  effective  kind  for  a  dairy  and  for  keeping  eggs 
for  sale  in  the  winter.  This  may  be  made  of  sheet  iron 
nailed  on  the  inside  and  outside  of  the  studding  and  also 
overhead,  and  painted  outside  with  brown  mineral  paint 
and  white  within.     The  roof  of  this  closet  should  slope 


Fig.  66.— CROSS-SECTION  OF  CEBAM- 
EKT  AND  ICE-HOUSE, 


ICE-HOUSES. 


335 


considerably  to  the  rear  (figure  68),  and  a  metal  gutter 
should  be  provided  to  catch  the  water  of  condensation 
which  will  gather  on  the  roof,  and  this  should  be  carried 
off  outside  through  a  pipe  having  an  m  trap  in  it  to 
prevent  air  passing  in.  This  arrangement  provides  in 
every  way  for  economizing  the  ice  and  utilizing  the  water 
which  wastes  from  it.  It  would  be  necessary  to  provide 
stoppers  for  the  pipes,  to  regulate  the  flow  of  cold  air 
and  prevent  a  larger  consumption  of  ice  than  is  neces- 


\WA 


i! 


□dJ 


lira 


Fig.  67. — ELEVATION  OF  ICE-HOUSE. 


Fig.  68.— COLD  CLOSET. 


sary ;  and  also  to  use  but  one  pipe  at  a  time,  leaving 
the  other  for  use  when  the  ice  which  supplies  one  is 
exhausted.    ■ 

The  cold  storage  houses  for  use  in  a  larger  way,  as  for 
large  creameries,  cheese  factories,  or  for  dealers  in  dairy 
goods,  are  oonstructed  upon  the  simple  princii^le  of  an 
ice-house  without  any  packing  around  the  ice,  but  with 
a  water-tight  and  well-drained  floor  over  a  lower  apart- 
ment. There  is  a  space  of  a  few  inches  left  between  the 
body  of  ice  and  the  wall,  through  which  air  may  circulate 
and  pass  down  to  the  room  below.  A  number  of  holes 
or  gratings  are  made  in  the  floor  for  the  cold  air  to 
descend.  The  house  is  built  with  non-conducting  walls, 
having  usually  a  space  of  a-  foot  between  them  packed 


336  THE    DAIKYMAX'S   3rAXUAL. 

witli  dry  sawdust,  or  a  new  and  most  excellent  material 
known  as  mineral  wool,  which  is  made  of  furnace  slag 
blown  by  a  blast  into  fine  threads.  These  cold  storage 
houses  are  now  in  frequent  use  by  fruit  growers,  butchers, 
brewers,  and  poultrymen,  as  well  as  dairymen,  and  are 
extremely  useful. 


CHAPTER    XXIY. 

CHEESE    MAKING. 

The  manufacture  of  cheese  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant industries  connected  with  the  preparation  of  hu- 
man food  from  a  raw  material.  Milk  is  a  complete  food. 
That  is,  it  contains  every  chemical  element  required  for 
the  perfect  nutrition  of  an  animal.  It  has  the  fat  and 
sugar  needed  for  combustion  in  the  lungs  to  support  the 
animal  heat  and  the  respiratory  process,  the  caseine  to 
make  flesh,  and  the  salts  to  furnish  material  for  the 
bones.  And  cheese  is  the  most  convenient  permanent 
form  in  which  milk  can  be  preserved  for  consumption. 
It  contains  the  caseine  or  nitrogenous  part  of  the  milk 
and  the  fat,  leaving  only  the  sugar  and  the  mineral  salts  in 
the  whey  which  escapes.  These  elements  are  most  easily 
made  up  or  substituted  in  the  form  of  bread,  and  hence 
bread  and  cheese  make  the  most  nutritious  food  for 
its  weight  that  can  be  produced.  Cheese  is  composed  of 
varying  proportions  of  caseine,  fat,  w^ater,  milk  acid  and 
some  other  extractive  matters  and  mineral  salts,  chiefly 
the  salt  used  in  its  manufacture,  as  follows  : 

COMPOSITION     OF    CHEESE. 


Rr  Cent  of           \ 
Extra  ffood                   -i 

Water.    \ 

30.53 

'     31.70 

!     38.43 

'     38.39 

Fat. 

41.58 

36.18 

23.28 

23.21 

'  Caseine. 
i~23:38~ 
!     27.19 
32.37     i 
28.37    1 

Acid,  etc. 
2.45    1 
1.95 
1      2.10 
1      6.80    1 

Ash. 
2.06 

Full  milk ---- 

Half  skim            

2.98 
3-82 

Skim  milk 

8.23 

CHEESE   MAKING.  337 

The  considerable  difference  in  the  quality  of  these 
samples  of  cheese  is  not  any  exact  criterion  of  the  market 
values.  The  excessive  quantity  of  fat  in  the  first  men- 
tioned gives  no  proportional  money  value  to  it  in  the 
market,  the  quality  most  desired  in  cheese  being  due  to 
the  manner  of  making  and  curing  it,  rather  than  to  the 
amount  of  butter  fat  that  may  be  contained  in  it.  This, 
however,  is  to  be  taken  as  a  general  rule  only,  and  one 
to  which  there  are  some  exceptions.  Thus,  while  it  is 
true  that  by  certain  methods  of  making  and  ripening  a 
cheese  from  half  skim  or  skimmed  milk  may  be  ad- 
vanced in  value  over  some  full  milk  cheese,  yet  there  are 
some  kinds  of  cheese,  as  the  exquisite  English  Stilton, 
which  has  cream  added  to  the  new  milk  and  contains  one 
quart  of  cream  to  ten  quarts  of  new  milk,  which  bear  a 
very  high  value  in  the  market  ;  but  this,  again,  is  due 
quite  as  much  to  the  peculiar  method  of  making,  by 
which  a  most  delicious  flavor  is  given  to  it,  as  to  the  large 
quantity  of  fat  contained  in  it. 

But  while  quality  is  conferred  upon  cheese  by  care  and 
skill  in  making,  and  by  its  contents  of  fat,  there  are 
some  other  causes  for  the  variation  in  quality.  Soil  and 
climate  have  something  to  do  with  quality,  for  they  con- 
trol to  some  extent  the  character  of  the  herbage,  and 
undoubtedly  food  has  much  to  do  with  the  flavor  of  its 
products.  The  flesh  of  animals  acquires  certain  qualities 
from  the  feeding  ;  this  is  unquestionable.  The  South- 
down mutton,  fed  upon  the  short  rich  herbage  of  the 
^*  downs,"  or  hilly  rolling  seaside  pastures  on  the  chalk 
districts  of  southern"  England,  and  the  tender  high- 
flavored  meat  of  the  Welsh  mountain  sheep  are  examples 
of  this  fact.  The  hams  of  Westphalia,  fed  upon  the 
mast  of  the  forests,  also  have  a  most  agreeable  flavor.  The 
wines  of  some  vineyards  surpass  those  of  all  others  in 
richness  of  flavor,  and  the  hops  of  certain  localities  sur- 
pass all  others  in  desirable  qualities.     Consistently  with 


338 

these  analogous  facts  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  pas- 
ture, which  is  affected  by  soil  and  climate,  has  some 
effect  upon  the  character  of  dairy  products.  But,  as  has 
been  stated  in  the  chapter  (II.)  on  dairy  farms  and  the 
selection  of  localities  and  soil  for  dairying,  the  expert 
and  experienced  dairyman  may  make  up  for  all  defects 
in  these  respects  by  good  culture,  fertilizing,  and  the 
growth  of  such  crops  as  will  afford  every  necessary  ele- 
ment in  the  food  for  the  production  of  good  milk,  and 
by  such  skill  in  maniiDulation  as  will  produce  the  very 
best  quality  in  the  butter  and  cheese  made  from  it. 

In  this  respect  ^'  doctors  differ,"  and  some  of  the 
American  experts  have  stated  as  their  belief  that  locality, 
soil,  herbage  and  w^ater  all  have  a  most  important  influ- 
ence upon  the  quality  of  dairy  products.  A  few  years 
ago  it  was  said  that  Kentucky  could  never  be  made  an 
excellent  dairy  region,  because  of  the  lack  of  suitable 
running  water  and  the  prevailing  character  of  the  soil. 
The  author  did  not  join  in  this  belief  and  hazarded  the 
opinion  that  good  well  water,  Kentucky  blue  grass, 
clover  and  other  fodder  crops,  were  quite  sufficient  as  a 
foundation  for  a  successful  and  profitable  dairy  business, 
if  the  skill  could  be  acquired.  This  view  has  been  justi- 
fied by  the  capture  of  $300  in  various  premiums,  by  a 
Kentucky  lady  w^ho  manages  a  well-conducted  butter 
dairy,  for  her  product,  which  Avas  awarded  first  place  in 
the  competition  at  the  National  Dairy  Exhibition,  held 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  the  year  1887. 

As  coinciding  with  this  view,  the  author's  belief  is 
confirmed  by  leading  English  experts  who  cannot  fail  to 
see  that  their  famous  Cheddar  cheese,  supposed  to  be  a 
special  product  of  a  favorable  locality,  soil  and  pasturage, 
is  actually  beaten  in  competition  by  the  best  American 
^^  Cheddar,"  made  under  wholly  different  conditions,  but 
by  the  most  skillful  dairymen  in  both  the  United  States 
and  Canada.     At  the  same  time  we  may  see  American 


CHEESE    MAKING.  339 

Limburger,  Brie,  Edam,  Neiifchatel,  Schweitzer,  and 
other  special  makes  of  French,  English  and  German 
cheese,  made  in  various,  widely  distant  localities,  and 
fully  equal  in  all  respects  to  those  made  in  the  localities 
which  became  famous  a  century  ago  for  these  cheeses. 

^^  Skillful  labor  conquers  all  difficulties,"  and  we  do 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  in  cheese  making,  while  there 
are  some  naturally  favorable  conditions  for  the  most 
successful  prosecution  of  the  industry,  yet  by  the  appli- 
cation of  the  necessary  skill  quite  as  good  qualities,  in  all 
the  varieties  which  are  produced  anywhere  in  the  world, 
can  be  made  in  America  upon  farms  well  chosen  for 
their  adaptation  to  the  special  pursuit,  as  in  any  locality 
elsewhere. 

The  curd  of  milk  is  the  material  of  which  cheese  is 
made.  This  consists  of  a  nitrogenous  substance  known 
as  caseine,  and  is  included  among  a  group  of  similar 
substances  which  are  nearly  or  quite  the  same  in  composi- 
tion. These  substances  are — besides  caseine — albumen 
of  eggs,  blood  and  vegetable  matter,  fibrin  of  iiesh  and 
blood,  gluten  of  various  grains,  as  of  wheat,  oats,  and 
legumin  of  peas,  beans  and  other  luguminous  or  pod- 
bearing  plants.  All  these  substances  are  free  from  color, 
taste,  and  odor,  are  insoluble  in  water  and  alcohol;  but 
dissolve  in  alkaline  solutions,  coagulate  from  their  so- 
lutions on  the  addition  of  acids  or  rennet,  and  ferment 
readily,  emitting  a  most  disagreeable  odor,  and  pro- 
ducing among  other  compounds  some  acids  and  am- 
monia. Legumin  is  used  by  the  Chinese  for  making 
cheese  which  is  identical  in  all  respects  with  the  cheese 
of  milk  curd. 

The  caseine  is  held  in  solution  in  the  milk  by  means 
of  the  free  soda,  and  is  precipitated  by  the  addition  of 
any  acid  substance  ;  being  insoluble  in  water  or  any 
neutral  liquid  it  becomes  solid  as  soon  as  the  soda  is 
neutralized,  and  the  milk  is  rendered  neutral  instead  of 


3-iO  THE   DAIPtYMAX'S   MANUAL. 

alkaline.  A  clear  understanding  of  these  facts  in  regard 
to  tbecaseine  is  indispensable  to  the  duir3^man,  who  must 
be  able  at  all  times  to  make  his  own  rules  for  guidance 
in  emergencies  when  unexpected  difficulties  and  obstacles 
arise  and  are  met  with. 

The  caseine  may  be  precipitated  or  changed  into  curd — 
which  is  its  solid  form,  but  rendered  soft  by  the  mechan- 
ical mixture  with  it  of  a  large  proportion  of  water — by  any 
acid,  and  in  making  some  kinds  of  cheese  acetic  acid, 
hydrochloric  acid,  or  lactic  acid  in  the  form  of  sour  milk, 
is  used  for  making  the  curd.  But  the  commonly  used 
agent  for  procuring  the  curd  is  rennet  or  the  dried 
stomach  of  a  yoitng  unweaned  calf  which  has  sucked  the 
dam.     Other  similar  substances  are  used  for  this  purpose. 

The  calf's  stomach  will  always  be  the  most  popular 

substance  used  for  this  purpose  in  cheese  making,  and  its 

preparation  may  well  be  considered  particularly.     The 

stomach  of  the  newly-killed  sucking  calf  only  is  used. 

This  contains  some  of  the  curd  of  the  milk  upon  which 

it  has  been  fed,  and  in  some  dairy  districts  the  calf  is 

given  a  copious  drink  of  milk  shortly  before  it  is  killed, 

^^  so   that   the   stomach   may   contain   a 

M/  larger  quantity  of  this  curd,  which  is 

H^^^  preserved  with  the  stomach.    The  stom- 

£  %w        ^^^^  either  emptied  of  its  contents  or 

fl  '^     ^''\^  these  intact,  is  salted  inside  and 

m  •v^i^    ^"^^  ^^^  dried  in  a  warm  place.     The 

P^i  5    .    I  iM^^iiil  '•^sual  method  is  to  turn  the  stomach, 

W'll  '  LlSliw'    shake  off  the  curd,  salt  the  stomach,  re- 

^IMip^^S^     turn  it  and  salt  the  outer  side,  then 

^^^^^  stretch  it  upon  an  elastic  twig  and 
^^^-  ^^-  hang  it  up  to  dry  (figure  69).     When 

the  rennets  are  perfectly  dry  they  may  be  put  into 
a  bag  and  hung  up  in  the  dairy-room  for  preserva- 
tion. Other  methods  arc  used  in  different  localities, 
such  as  to  pickle  the  stomachs  in  brine  and  dry  them, 


CBtEESE  MA^IKG.  ^  S41 

or  to  pack  them  in  jars  or  barrels  in  salt  and  keep 
them  until  required  for  use.  In  Italy  and  Switzerland 
the  stomachs  are  chopped  up  very  fine,  mixed  with  salt, 
pepper,  bread  crumbs  and  whey  into  a  paste  which  is 
pressed  into  jars  or  bladders  and  kept  for  use.  The 
rennet  improves  with  age  and  is  the  strongest  when  ten 
or  twelve  months  old.  New  rennet  is  charged  with  pro- 
ducing heading,  swelling  or  ''huffing"  of  the  cheese. 
This  peculiarity  strongly  corroborates  the  view  above 
taken  as  to  the  nature  of  the  action  of  rennet,  for  time 
is  necessary  to  produce  most  effectively  the  organic 
change  which  takes  place  in  the  membrane  and  upon 
which  its  action  depen,ds. 

Eennet  is  used  in  a  liquid  form,  because  it  can  then 
be  quickly  and  intimately  mingled  with  the  milk.  For 
its  proper  action  it  must  be  thoroughly  stirred  into  the 
milk  which  is  brought  to  a  certain  temperature,  lower  or 
higher  according  to  circumstances,  for  the  reason  that 
the  germinative  action  is  hastened  by  a  proper  degree  of 
warmth.  Usually  the  dried  stomach  is  infused  in  warm 
water  or  whey,  and  some  dairymen  add  the  juice  of 
lemons  to  the  infusion,  one  quart  of  the  liquid  being 
used  for  each  stomach.  Half  a  pint  of  the  infusion  to 
100  gallons  of  milk  is  generally  sufficient  to  bring  the 
curd  in  one  hour,  with  the  milk  at  a  temperature  of 
about  eighty  degrees. 

The  procuring  of  the  curd  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant manipulations  in  making  cheese,  as  the  quality  of 
the  product  and  its  ripening  or  curing  depend  very  much 
upon  this  part  of  the  process  being  carried  out  with 
great  carefulness  and  skill.  The  flavor  of  the  cheese 
may  be  seriously  aifected  by  bad  and  impure  rennet,  and 
if  putrefactive  germs  are  contained  in  it,  the  decom- 
posing ferment  will  assuredly  be  communicated  to  the 
cheese  Avith  disastrous  effect.  Doubtless  many  of  the 
inexplicable  troubles  of  the  dairyman  arise  from  the  use 


342  THE  dairyman's  majtual. 

of  ill-conditioned  rennet,  and  this  should  be  carefully 
guarded  against.  It  is  always  a  safe  precaution,  when 
doubt  exists  as  to  the  purity  of  the  rennet,  to  filter  it 
through  flannel  or  even  through  cotton  fiber  or  blotiing 
paper.  By  varying  the  character  of  the  rennet  the  cliar- 
acter  of  tlie  cheese  may  be  changed,  and  where  many 
varieties  of  fancy  cheese  are  made  the  rennet  used  differs 
,very  much.  Some  very  celebrated  French  cheeses  are 
made  of  rennet  prepared  with  water  to  which  brandy  is 
added  in  the  proportion  of  one-third,  and  spices  and 
aromatic  herbs  are  steeped  with  the  stomachs  in  this 
mixture.  For  other  cheeses  pig's  bladder  is  steei^ed  in 
wliite  wine  and  vinegar,  and  others  again  are  made  with 
diluted  acids  only. 

The  exhausted  stomachs  need  not  be  thrown  away, 
but  may  be  again  salted  and  left  to  renew  their  strength. 
This  they  will  do  in  the  course  of  some  months,  and  as 
yet  no  one  has  been  able  to  say  when  this  power  of  re- 
covering their  activity  will  be  entirely  lost.  If  this 
activity  depends  upon,  or  belongs  to,  the  membrane,  as 
almost  conclusively  appears,  it  may  last  until  tiie  mem- 
brane itself  is  dissolved  away. 

It  has  been  stated  that  a  certain  quantity  of  the  liquid 
rennet  is  sufficient  to  produce  a  certain  effect  upon  a 
given  quantity  of  milk  at  a  stated  temperature.  If  one  of 
these  elements  of  the  process  is  varied,  the  others  are  sub- 
ject to  a  proportionate  change.  Thus  if  the  temperature 
is  higher  the  time  is  reduced  ;  if  the  quantity  of  rennet  is 
increased  the  time  is  lessened.  At  a  lower  temperature 
more  rennet  is  required  or  more  time  must  be  given. 
These  nice  calculations  must  be  based  upon  the  normal 
conditions  given  as  well  as  ujDon  the  quality  and  strength 
of  the  rennet ;  and  these  vary  as  the  age  of  the  dried 
stomachs  or  the  mode  of  preparing,  the  solution.  A 
standard  preparation  of  rennet  is  made  for  use  in  the 
dairy,  and  the  dairyman  will  be  able  to  make  his  calcula- 


CflEESE  MAKIKG.  343 

tions  more  precisely  and  more  safely  by  using  such  a 
material  as  is  always  of  tbe  same  strength  and  effective- 
ness, than  by  the  too  common  ''rule  of  thumb"  or  hap- 
hazard or  guesswork  method  in  use  in  dairies.  The 
temperature  too  should  be  noted  exactly  by  an  accurately 
graduated  thermometer,  which  should  be  tested  carefully 
before  it  is  used  ;  as  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  cheap 
thermometers  in  use  to  vary  two  or  three  or  even  five 
degrees,  and  such  variation  might  be  fatal  to  success 
and  a  continual  source  of  unsatisfactory  work,  the  reason 
for  which  would   perplex   the  unsuspecting   dairyman. 

Acidity  is  not  a  necessary  element  in  making  curd. 
Indeed  it  is  at  once  the  surprise  and  the  bane  of  the  cheese 
maker,  and  must  be  guarded  against  with  the  greatest 
care.  Acid  is  produced  no  doubt  in  the  milk  by  the  action 
of  the  peculiar  organism  or  ferment  of  the  rennet,  bat  it  is 
instantly  neutralized  by  its  own  effect ;  viz.,  the  precipi- 
tation of  the  caseine  and  the  formation  of  the  curd. 
Thus  the  curd  is  sweet  and  the  whey  is  sweet,  until,  by 
a  process  of  internal  change  in  the  curd,  lactic  acid  is 
formed  from  the  sugar  held  in  the  moisture  of  the  curd 
and  acidity  becomes  induced.  This  subject,  however,  is 
too  important  to  be  passed  over  lightly,  and  will  be  more 
fully  treated  of  when  the  chemistry  of  cheese  making  is 
considered  further  on  in  this  chapter. 

There  are  several  methods  of  making  cheese,  each  dif- 
fering in  some  important  particular.  The  most  frequent 
is  by  using  the  whole  milk,  or  milk  half  skimmed  ;  some 
is  made  by  adding  cream  to  the  new  milk,  and  some  is 
made  of  skimmed  milk.  At  least  one  very  popular  kind 
of  cheese  is  made  of  ewe's  milk,  and  several  kinds  have 
some  foreign  matter,  as  herbs  or  spices  added  to  the 
card.  The  greatest  variety  in  cheese  making,  however, 
is  in  regard  to  the  curing,  and,  in  fact,  this  is  by  far  the 
most  important  part  of  tlie  industry,  and  requires  the 
most  experience  and  skill  in  its  practice. 


844  THE  daikyman's  MAKUAL. 

The  Mechanism  of  Cheese  Making  is  now'  to  be 
considered.  This  has  been  more  highly  developed  in 
America  than  in  any  other  country,  although  foreign 
dairymen  are  rapidly  adopting  the  American  system  and 
practice.  The  factory  system,  as  it  is  called,  is  now  al- 
most universally  joracticed.  A  few  farm  dairies  are  still 
worked,  bat  even  in  these  the  method  is  practically  that 
of  the  factory  on  a  small  scale.  This  system  was 
begun  in  1860  by  a  dairyman  named  Jesse  Williams, 
who  lived  near  Rome,  in  Oneida  Co.,  New  York,  and 
who  was  drawn  into  it  by  force  of  circumstances,  and  for 
the  sake  of  convenience,  just  as  the  factory  system  of 
making  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  iron  goods,  nails,  and 
other  products  of  general  use,  grew  from  family  work  at 
home  into  concentrated  industries  in  buildings  especially 
fitted  with  labor-saving  machinery  for  these  m^mufac- 
tures.  It  was  a  foregone  conclusion,  from  the  necessities 
of  the  case,  that  the  household  manufacture  of  cheese 
upon  dairy  farms  should  be  supplanted  by  associated 
enterprise  in  this  direction,  because  the  isolated  farm 
dairy  cannot  produce  cheese  nearly  as  cheaply  as  several 
dairies  working  together  can  do.  And  in  the  case  of 
Jesse  WilUams,  it  was  first  the  union  of  a  family  of  cheese 
makers  to  secure  the  skill  of  tlie  father  in  helping  to  work 
up  the  product  of  his  own  dairy  and  those  of  his  sons 
wliich  in  time  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  thousands 
of  factories  now  in  operation. 

Necessarily  this  concentration  of  labor  and  apparatus 
greatly  reduces  the  cost  of  manufacture,  for  whereas  it 
costs  nearly  two  cents  a  pound  to  make  up  the  milk  of 
twenty  cows  into  cheese,  the  milk  of  forty  cows  can  bo 
made  up  for  less  than  one  cent  a  pound  ;  and  while  the 
building  and  apparatus  for  working  up  the  milk  of  forty 
cows  costs  $300  or  -$400,  a  factory  in  which  the  milk  of 
twenty  times  as  many  cows  can  be  worked  up  will  cost 
scarcely  more    than   six  times  as  much,  and  where  the 


CHEESE  MAKIlS'a.  345 

profit  in  working  a  factory  for  GOO  or  800  cows  would  be 
more  than  $1,000  the  same  factory  with  300  or  400  cows 
would  make  no  profit  at  all.  In  fact,  the  advantages 
which  accrue  from  this  associated  dairying  are  such  that 
as  few  as  ten  dairymen  could  profitably  combine  in  estab- 
lishing one  for  their  own  herds  and  without  securing 
aid  from  other  neighbors. 

The  saving  in  the  cost  of  furniture,  building,  and 
working  is  not  all ;  there  are  in  addition  the  advantages 
of  better  quality,  through  the  skilled  work  of  one  maker, 
and  the  better  market  price  which  can  be  realized  from 
this  uniformity  of  make  and  quality.  There  are  two 
methods  of  managing  the  business  of  a  cheese  factory; 
one  is  by  purchasing  the  milk  outright  from  the  farmers 
at  a  stated  price,  and  another  by  making  the  cheese  on  a 
co-operative  principle  and  distributing  the  proceeds,  pro 
rata,  according  to  the  quantity  of  milk  delivered  by 
each  member,  after  a  certain  fixed  charge  has  been  made 
for  manufacturing.  This  charge  is  usually  two  cents 
per  pound  of  manufactured  cheese.  The  method,  how- 
ever, of  organizing  the  business  is  immaterial  just  at 
present ;  it  is  the  management  that  is  more  pertinent  to 
us  at  this  point. 

A  cheese  factory  consists  of  a  building  adapted  to  the 
■requirements  of  the  machinery  used  in  the  manufacture, 
for  the  proper  reception  of  the  milk,  and  for  the  curing 
of  the  cheese.  It  is  provided  with  a  steam  boiler  for 
heating  purposes,  a  curing-room  for  storing  the  cheese, 
and  apartments  for  the  manager.  It  should  be  con- 
structed in  such  a  manner  as  to  maintain  an  equal  and 
steady  temperature  with  economical  consumption  of  fuel 
and  be  connected  with  eifective  drainage  by  which  the 
refuse  whey  may  be  carried  off  to  a  safe  distance.  A 
frame  building  with  an  eight  or  ten-inch  air-space  be- 
tween the  inner  and  outer  walls,  and  protected  by 
air-proof  lining,  answers  eveiy  desirable  purpose.     The 


346 


THE   D AIR YM ax's   MAJfUAL. 


ground  floor  should  be  amply  spacious,  and  a  two-story 
building  with  curing- room  above  is  the  cheapest.  As  an 
even  temperature  and  a  stable  condition  of  moisture  and 
good  ventilation  are  required,  it  would  seem  that  a  base- 
ment curing-room  would  be  preferable  to  any  other.  It 
would  certainly  provide  every  requisite  in  a  more  certain 
manner  than  an  upper  floor. 

The  factory  site  should  be  on  high,  airy,  well-drained 
ground.  A  permanent  supply  of  water  sufficient  to  fill  a 
two-inch  pipe  is  needed  for  a  factory  of  500  cows.     A 


Fig.  70. — CHEESE  FACTOBT. 

building  of  this  capacity  should  be  seventy-five  feet  long 
by  thirty-two  feet  wide  at  least,  and  the  floor  should  be 
nine  feet  in  the  clear.  If  the  curing-room  is  in  the  base- 
ment, a  story-and-a-half  building  only  will  be  needed. 
The  frame  should  be  substantial ;  the  lower  floor  of 
matched  hard  pine  plank,  slopes  three  inches  from  front 
to  rear,  where  a  trapped  drain  is  made  to  convey  aw^ay 
all  the  slop  and  whey  and  the  washing  of  the  floor.  The 
■whole  interior  should  be  double  plastered.  The  upper 
floor  should  be  matched  and  tight,  and  to  avoid  pillars 
in  the  lower  room  the  beams  should  be  supported  by  iron 


CHEfiS:fi  MAKIi^(i» 


347 


rods  attached  to  collar  beams  in  the  roof.  An  ice  cham- 
ber, or,  which  is  far  better,  one  of  the  ice  and  cold-air 
machines  now  made  and  to  be  procured  for  a  moderate 
sum,  is  needed  to  control  the  summer  temperature.  The 
most  ample  arrangements  for  thorough  ventilation  are 
indispensable. 

The  space  on  the  lower  floor  required  for  manufactur- 
ing will  be  about  forty  feet  in  length.  This  is  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  building  by  a  close  double  partition 
having  a  large  sliding  door  in  the  center  or  otherwise 


)000®00000 


M 


Fig.   71.— ARRANGEMENT    OP   CHEESE    FACTORY. 

placed,  as  may  be  found  convenient  for  the  removal  of 
cheese  from  the  press  to  the  curing-room,  for  which 
this   space   is   set  apart. 

A  convenient  arrangement  is  as  shown  at  figure  71. 
At  d  is  a  covered  driveway  for  unloading,  with  a  plat- 
form for  receiving  and  weighing  the  milk.  The  milk  is 
then  conducted  by  means  of  the  milk  conductor  to  the 
vats,  a,  a,  a,  here  represented  as  600-gallon  ones,  and 
three  in  number.  The  curd  sink  is  at  c;  the  boiler 
at  h;  the  presses  at  e,  and  the  cheese  tables  are  seen 


348 


THE  dairyman's  3IAKUAL. 


in  the  curing  room  adjoining.     The  drain  is  shown  by 
the  dotted  lines  (figure  71). 

The  curing-room  is  furnished  with   benches,  twenty- 
four  inches   high  and  three  feet  wide,  made  of  strips 


Fig.  72.— CUEING  HOUSE. 

having  spaces  between  tliem  to  facilitate  circulation  of 
air.  These  benches  should  be  carefully  made  to  avoid 
cracks  or  spaces  in  the  joints  which  would  harbor  cheese 
maggots,  the  great  pest  of  the  cheese  factory.  They 
should  be  ranged  at  a  distance  of  two  feet  apart  and  the 


Fig.  73.— WEIGHING  CAN. 


Fig.  74.— CONDUCTING  PIPE. 


cheeses  are  placed  on  them  in  double  rows.  A  roomy 
closet  should  be  provided  in  which  to  keep  the  numei'ous 
small  utensils  and  for  a  wash-stand  and  towels  for  tl.e 
men.  The  factory  is  best  warmed  by  steam  coils  sup- 
plied from  the  boiler,  and  a  small  engine  of  five-horse 


CHEESE   MAKING. 


349 


power  at  least  will  do  all  the  hoisting,  pumping,  or  forc- 
ing water  for  washing,  and  grinding  the  curd.  The 
upper  curing-room,  or  the  basement  if  that  is  used,  is 
furnished  in  the  manner  described,  and  an  elevator  for 
moving  the  -cheese  will  be  found  very  convenient.  A 
sliding  trough  will  also  serve  to  pass  the  cheese  from  the 
upper  to  the  lower  floor. 

The  style  of  building  for  a  factory  may  be  varied  to 
suit  the  taste  or  ambition  of  the  owners.     Fancy  work 


Fig.  75— CURD  KNIVES.  Fig.  76.— curd  mill. 

pays  nothing,  and  plainness  and  substantial  work  and 
material  only  are  required  for  economy  and  for  use. 
Fic^ure  70  represents  a  well-arranged  factory  in  Northern 
Vemont  in  which  the  whole  is  under  one  roof.  In 
some  factories  the  curing  and  store-houses  are  made 
separately,  with  every  appliance  for  coolness,  such  as 
shutters  and  ventilators,  double  walls,  and  an  open  space 
under  the  building.  A  separate  curing  house  belonging 
to  a  well  known  New  York  factory  is  shown  at  figure  72. 
These  buildings  are  plain  but  sufficient  for  every  purpose. 
The  apparatus  for  a  factory  of  this  size  consists  of  the 
weighing  can  (figure  73);  a  conducting  pipe  (figure  74), 


350 


THE    DAIRYMAN  S    MANUAL. 


by  wliich  the  milk  is  conducted,  as  it  is  received  on  the 
platform  (this  is  raised  to  get  the  required  flow),  to  the 
vats ;  the  vats,  of  which  there  are  several  kinds  in  use, 


Fig.  77.— CHEESE   PRESS. 

are  arranged  for  heating  by  steam  from  the  boiler ;  the 
curd  knives  {figure  75),  of  which  there  are  two,  one  for 
vertical  cutting  and  the  other  for  dividing  the  curd  hori- 
zontally, so   as  to  leave  it  in  small  cubes ;  a  curd  mill 


Fig.   78.— GANG  PRESS. 

(figure  76)  for  breaking  up  the  curd  when  it  has  been 
solidified  by  the  cooking,  and  the  press  and  hoops  (figure 
77),  or  the  gang  press  (figure  78),  by  which  a  large  nunv 


CHEESE   MAKING.  351 

ber  of  cheeses  are  pressed  at  one  time.  For  a  factor}^  for 
500  or  800  cows,  a  seventy-gallon  receiving  can  will  be 
required  ;  two  gang  j^resses,  or  twenty  self-bandaging 
hoops  and  five  or  six  single  presses.  The  whole  appa- 
ratus will  cost  about  180  for  20  cows,  $100  for  30  cows, 
1140  for  40  cows,  $250  for  100  cows,  $450  for  200  cows, 
$600  for  300  cows,  $700  for  400  cows,  and  $1,000  to 
$1,200  for  600  cows  and  upwards. 

The  process  of  making  cheese  in  a  factory  is  as  follows: 
The  milk  received  at  the  factory  in  the  evening  is  cooled 
down  to  about  sixty  degrees,  at  which  it  is  kept  until 
morning.  The  morning's  delivery  is  added,  and  the  whole 
is  thoroughly  stirred  and  heated  to  eighty  degrees.  The 
rennet  is  then  added  and  well  stirred  through  the  milk, 
sufficient  being  used  to  bring  the  curd  in  forty-five  min- 
utes to-  one  hour.  When  the  curd  has  become  solid 
enough  that  a  cube  of  it  three  or  four  inches  square  will 
retain  its  shape  when  lifted,  it  is  cut  four  times,  twice 
with  each  curd  knife  at  intervals  of  a  few  minutes.  The 
curd  is  then  gently  moved  to  separate  the  whey,  and  the 
vat  is  heated  gradually  to  ninety-five  or  ninety-six  degrees; 
a  little  more  or  less  is  often  preferred  by  different  cheese 
makei's  or  for  special  makes  of  cheese,  this  process  being 
used  for  what  is  known  as  the  American  cheese.  The 
Uieating  is  continued  for  an  hour  to  an  hour  and  a  half; 
tlie  less  period  is  used  for  a  soft  cheese  and  the  longer 
one  for  a  harder  and  firmer  one,  as  may  be  desired  by  the 
maker.  When  the  heating  has  been  completed,  the  curd 
is  stirred  for  fifteen  minutes  to  cause  it  to  separate  more 
completely  and  to  pack  at  the  bottom  of  the  vat,  where 
it  remains  until  the  whey  is  completely  separated. 

Up  to  this  poini4here  is  no  important  difference  be- 
tw^een  the  so-called  Cheddar  method  and  the  ordinary 
one  known  in  England  as  the  Cheshire  process,  except 
that  the  Cheshire  cheese  is  made  of  curd  set  at  ninety 
degrees  and  not  heated  afterwards,     But  here  a  diver- 


352  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

gence  of  method  between  the  two  systems  begins,  and  a 
slight  difference  between  the  so-called  American  method 
and  the  English  Cheddar,  which  will  be  noticed  as  we 
proceed. 

The  separation  of  the  whey  from  the  curd  is  the  ini- 
tial point  of  difference.  The  whey  is  not  drawn  off  in  the 
American  system  until  some  slight  acidity  has  been  de- 
veloped, when  it  is  run  off,  and  the  curd  is  then  removed 
to  the  sink  to  drain  and  cool.  The  management  at  this 
point  requires  experience  and  skill,  for  the  formation  of 
acid  is  to  be  regulated,  retarded,  or  hastened,  with  the 
greatest  nicety,  on  the  principle  that  heat  rapidly  de- 
velops the  acidity,  while  cold  retards  it.  Hence  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  to  spread  or  otherwise  cool  the  curd 
in  the  sink,  and  sometimes  to  heap  it  to  retain  the  heat. 
When  the  curd  has  become  solid  it  is  torn  into  fragments 
of  two  or  three  pounds  in  w^eight  and  left  to  cool,  to 
harden  the  fat  in  it  and  avoid  its  loss.  The  curd  is 
then  ground  into  small  pieces  in  the  mill  and  salted  at 
the  rate  of  a  pound  and  a  half  to  two  pounds  per  100 
pounds  of  curd  or  1,000  pounds  of  milk  used.  The  curd 
is  then  put  into  the  hoops  for  pressing. 

In  the  English  Cheddar  system,  by  which  the  best  plain 
cheese  in  the  world  is  made,  milk  of  the  morning  and 
evening  is  brought  to  a  temperature  of  from  seventy-eight 
to  eighty-four  degrees,  according  to  the  condition  of  the 
weather ;  if  that  has  been  warm,  the  rennet  will  be  as 
effective  with  the  lower  temperature,  as  with  the  higher 
after  a  cold  night.  The  evening's  milk  is  placed  in  ves- 
sels to  cool  during  the  night,  being  stirred  at  intervals 
during  the  evening.  It  is  skimmed  in  the  morning,  and 
the  cream  with  a  portion  of  the  milk  is  heated  up  to  100 
degrees.  The  whole  is  poured  into  the  vat  or  tub,  into 
which -the  morning's  milk  is  being  strained,  so  that  the 
whole  is  brought  to  the  proper  temi^erature  above  men- 
tioned.    The  rennet,  half-a-pint  to  100  gallons  of  milk. 


CHEESE   MAKING.  353 

is  then  poured  in.  The  rennet  is  made  from  small 
stomachs  of  calves  killed  at  a  week  old,  cured,  and  kept 
eighteen  months  before  being  used.  The  stomachs  are 
steeped  in  saltwater — one  quart  to  each — for  three  weeks. 
The  rennet  is  strong  enough  to  form  the  curd  in  one  hour 
at  the  above  temperature.  The  curd  is  cut  in  the  usual 
manner  with  curd-knives,  but  with  great  care  lest  the 
cream  should  escape  with  the  whey,  and  with  several 
interruptions  of  the  process,  which  in  all  takes  half  an 
hour.  It  is  thus  broken  into  pieces  no  larger  than  peas. 
The  whole  mass  is  then  gradually  and  carefully  heated, 
by  means  of  hot  water  let  into  a  space  around  the  cheese 
vat,  up  to  100  degrees.  This  takes  half  an  hour.  The 
hot  water  is  then  drawn  off,  and  the  curd  is  stirred  for 
half  an  hour  in  the  hot  whey,  being  then  reduced  to  still 
smaller  fragments.  Another  half  hour  is  allowed  for  the 
curd  to  settle,  when  the  whey  is  drawn  off  into  a  vat  six 
inches  deep,  where  it  is  cooled,  skimmed,  and  the  cream 
made  into  butter.  This  is  equal  to  about  half  a  pound 
per  cow  per  week.  After  standing  another  half  hour,  to 
develop  the  right  degree  of  acidity,  the  curd  is  cut  into 
pieces,  turned  over,  left  for  half  an  hour  longer,  and 
again  cut  and  left  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  It  is  then 
slightly  acid  to  the  taste.  If  the  acid  becomes  too  much 
developed,  the  cheese  will  not  press  solidly,  but  will  sink 
and  become  misshapen.  It  is  then  torn  to  pieces  by 
hand  and  cooled,  packed  in  thin  layers  in  the  vat,  and 
after  being  pressed  for  half  a  day,  it  is  again  broken 
up  by  hand.  When  cool,  sour,  dry,  and  tough  enough, 
it  is  ground  in  the  curd-mill;  two  pounds  of  salt  are 
added  to  112  pounds  of  curd,  and  when  quite  cold  it  is 
placed  in  the  hoop  with  the  cloth,  and  taken  to  the  press. 
The  pressure  is  about  1,800  to  2,000  pounds:  The  cloth" 
is  changed  the  next  day,  and  again  on  the  second  day. 
On  the  third  day  the  cheese  is  taken  from  the  press  to 
the  cheese-room,  bandaged,  and  turned  daily  for  some 


354 

time.  The  temperature  of  the  cheese-room  is  kept  at 
sixty-five  degrees.  The  cheese  is  ready  for  sale  at  the 
end  of  three  months.  The  weights  of  these  cheeses  are 
from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds, 
this  being  dependent  upon  the  size  of  the  dairy. 

The  American  Cheddar  method  differs  but  slightly 
from  the  above.  The  milk  is  warmed  to  about  eighty  de- 
grees, the  proper  temperature  for  coagulation  ;  it  is  then 
well  stirred  to  insure  the  even  distribution  of  heat,  and 
the  rennet  is  added  and  thoroughly  mingled  by  stirring. 
The  curdling  is  complete  in  forty  to  sixty  minutes,  when 
the  mass  is  stirred,  or  broken  by  a  many-bladed  curd-knife 
into  small  blocks  to  facilitate  its  separation  from  the  whey. 
When  the  curd  has  acquired  sufficient  firmness,  it  is  more 
thoroughly  broken,  either  by  the  hands  or  by  what  is 
known  as  an  agitator.  After  the  curd  is  broken  up,  heat 
is  applied  by  means  of  steam  pipes  until  the  whey  and 
curd  together  are  brought  to  a  temperature  of  about  100 
degrees.  During  this  heating  the  curd  is  stirred,  and 
after  the  '' cooking"  is  complete  it  is  left  to  rest,  with 
occasional  stirrings,  until  a  proper  degree  of  approach 
to  acidity  is  observed  in  the  whey.  The  whey  is  then 
drawn  off,  and  the  curd  is  heaped  in  the  vats  and  left  to 
become  sour.  Upon  the  exact  degree  of  acid  that  is  de- 
veloped in  the  curd,  depends,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
quality  of  the  cheese ;  and  the  skillful  practice  of  an 
experienced  cheese  maker  is  perhaps  more  needed  just 
here  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  process.  Those  who 
need  it  can  use  what  is  known  as  the  hot-iron  test ;  this 
is  to  take  a  bar,  or  rod,  of  iron  heated  to  a  point  some- 
what less  than  a  dull  red  heat,  and  bring  it  .into  contact 
with  a  piece  of  curd.  If,  when  the  hot  iron  is  drawn 
from  the  curd,  it  brings  with  it  a  quantity  of  glutinous 
strings,  the  curd  is  ready  for  removal  from  the  vats.  It 
is  dipped  out  from  these  with  the  curd  dipper,  a  pail  having 
a  flat  side,  into  a  cooler,  the  vat  being  tipped  by  means 


CHEESE   MAKING.  355 

of  winches.  The  curd  is  left  here  to  cool  for  a  few  min- 
utes, when  it  is  turned  over  and  again  left,  to  acquire  a 
certain  mellowness.  It  is  then  pressed  for  ten  minutes, 
when  it  is  taken  out,  ground  in  the  curd  mill,  and  salted, 
two  pounds  of  salt  being  used  for  -100  pounds  of  curd. 
The  proper  temperature  of  the  curd  is  kept  up  during 
these  processes  by  covering  it  with  a  cloth.  After  hav- 
ing been  ground,  and  salted,  the  curd  is  put  into  the 
presses,  in  which  it  remains  under  pressure  for  two  or 
three  days.  The  pressure,  which  is  regulated  by  means 
of  a  screw,  should  be  sufficient  to  force  out  the  whey 
and  consolidate  the  cheese.  It  is  obvious  that  much  tact 
and  experience  are  needed  to  produce  cheese  of  first 
quality,  wdien  it  is  considered  what  a  multitude  of  inter- 
fering and  complicated  changes  may  occur  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  curd,  through  atmospheric  effects,  the 
quality  of  the  milk  or  the  rennet,  or  unavoidable  diffi- 
culties in  securing  the  precise  degrees  of  heat  or  fermen- 
tation of  the  curd.  But  in  the  well-managed  cheese 
factory  all  danger  of  failure  is  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
as  compared  with  the  chances  of  a  hundred  small  dairies 
all  differently  managed,  and  without  the  machinery 
needed  for  accurate  manipulation.  It  is  on  account  of 
this  uniformity  in  quality  that  the  American  factory 
cheese  fills  a  place  in  the  markets  of  the  world  that  no 
other  dairy  product  has  ever  done,  or  is  likely  to  do. 

When  the  milk  is  somewhat  sour,  different  treatment 
is  required.  As  milk  slightly  sour  will  coagulate  more 
easily  than  sweet  milk,  less  rennet  might  be  supposed 
necessary.  But  in  practice  and  for  very  good  reasons  the 
quantity  of  rennet  is  increased  by  good  makers,  so  as  to  pro- 
duce curd  as  quickly  as  possible,  thus  preventing  exces- 
sive acidity.  As  soon  as  the  curd  is  set,  the  manipulation 
is  hastened  for  the  purpose  of  producing  the  requisite 
acid,  but  without  heating  to  more  than  eighty-six  de- 
grees, and  if  the  milk  has  been  quite  sour  no  heating  is 


356  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

given.  It  will  be  easily  understood  that  as  heat  tends  to 
encourage  rapid  souring,  a  less  amount  of  it  will  equalize 
the  excess  of  acidity  in  the  milk  and  bring  the  curd  to 
the  required  degree  of  sourness  for  the  best  condition  of 
preparation  for  the  salting  and  pressure. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the  milk  becomes  tainted, 
or  contains  putrefactive  germs,  in  the  hottest  part  of  the 
season.  This  condition  of  the  milk  is  doubtless  due  to 
some  abnormal  state  of  the  cow  by  overheating,  and 
sometimes  it  is  known  to  occur  from  the  use  of  impure 
water.  When  such  milk  is  curdled  there  is  a  produc- 
tion of  gas  in  the  curd  which  causes  it  to  float,  and  this 
interferes  very  much  with  the  work  of  the  cheese  maker. 
To  overcome  this  defect  in  the  milk,  some  of  the  best 
cheese  makers  do  not  cool  the  night's  milk,  but  permit 
it  to  develop  incipient  acidity  and  then  proceed  as  with 
good  milk  until  the  whey  is  separated  from. the  curd. 
The  whey  is  left  on  the  curd,  and  the  separation  post- 
poned until  acid  is  distinctly  developed,  when  it  is  drawn 
off  and  the  usual  process  is  completed.  Curd  made  from 
such  milk  will  swell  up  and  emit  an  offensive  odor ;  this 
odor,  however,  is  neutralized  by  the  gradually  increasing 
acid,  by  which  the  putrefactive  germs  seem  to  be  de- 
stroyed, and  in  the  end,  by  the  most  skillful  management 
in  the  final  handling  of  the  curd,  a  very  fair  quality  of 
cheese  can  be  made. 

A  long  experience  and  close  observation  and  study  are 
requisite  to  make  an  expert  cheese  maker,  but  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  involved  in  the  art  will  very  much 
facilitate  the  gathering  of  the  necessary  experience.  With 
such  a  complex  substance  as  milk,  and  with  so  many  in- 
completely understood  changes  and  results  of  fermenta- 
tion, oxidation,  and  heat,  it  is  not  surprising  that  no 
precise  rules  can  be  laid  down  for  the  guidance  of  the 
beginner.  All  that  can  be  done  by  the  most  enthusiastic 
and  painstaking  learner  is  to  study  the  preliminaries  and 


CHEESE   MAKIJTO.  357 

the  principles  of  his  business,  and  then  work  out  his  own 
practice  after  many  mistakes  and  defeats. 

The  Chemistry  of  Cheese  Makii^g  is  a  very  involved 
and  intricate  study,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  reduce  it  to 
a  system  and  explain  the  causes  for  the  curious  effects  of 
the  process.  When  milk  is  left  exposed  to  the  atmos- 
phere for  a  varying  length  of  time  it  becomes  acid,  and 
separates  into  two  parts,  one  a  solid  and  the  other  a 
liquid.  The  time  required  for  this  change  varies  with 
the  temperature,  being  longer  or  shorter  as  the  tempera- 
ture may  be  lower  or  higher.  The  production  of  acidity 
is  due  to  the  formation  of  lactic  acid  by  the  decomposi- 
tion of  the  sugar  of  the  milk.  The  acid  thus  formed 
combines  with  the  free  soda  which  always  exists  in 
normal  milk  in  its  fresh  state,  and  this  combination  goes 
on  until  the  alkali  is  all  exhausted,  when  acid  begins  to 
accumulate. 

The  caseine  of  the  milk  is  soluble  in  an  alkaline  flu'id, 
but  not  in  a  neutral  one.  Consequently,  when  the  alkali 
(the  free  soda)  in  the  milk  is  neutralized  by  the  formation 
of  lactic  acid,  the  caseine  is  precipitated  or  becomes 
solid,  being  no  longer  soluble  in  the  milk.  But  the 
curd  does  not  separate  from  the  whey  until  heat  is  applied, 
when  the  curd  contracts  in  bulk  and  forces  the  whey  out 
from  among  its  particles,  all  the  more  freely  when  it  is 
cut  into  small  pieces  and  is  raised  to  a  considerably  high 
temperature,  as  that  used  in  cheese-making;  viz.,  eighty 
to  one  hundred  degrees.  In  making  cheese  it  is  not 
usual  to  permit  the  milk  to' become  sour  and  precipitate 
the  curd  in  that  way.  This  process  is  performed  by  the 
addition  of  some  substance  which  acts  chemically  upon 
the  milk  to  hasten  the  production  of  the  curd  with  de- 
veloping acidity.  Any  acid  will  curdle  milk,  and  in  the 
manufacture  of  some  kinds  of  cheese,  vinegar,  tartaric 
acid,  lemon  juice,  cream  of  tartar,  hydrochloric  (muri- 
atic) acid,  and  even  oxalate  of  potash  (salt  of  sorrel)  have 


358  THE  DAIRYMAIS'S  MANUAL. 

been  used,  besides  sour  milk,  and  the  common  rennet, 
to  produce  the  curd. 

Caseine  itself  is  an  acid  substance  and  combines  with 
the  soda  of  the  milk  under  certain  circumstances,  and 
then  becomes  soluble  in  the  water  of  the  milk,  althougli 
it  IS  practically  insoluble  in  pure  water.  When  any  acid 
is  added  to  the  milk  it  takes  the  soda  from  the  caseine 
and  combines  wath  it,  thus  causing  the  caseine  to  re- 
sume its  insoluble  condition  and  separate  from  the  fluid. 
The  action  of  rennet  differs  in  some  degree  from  this, 
but  it  is  quite  as  simple  and  easy  to  understand.  This 
substance  is  the  digestive  or  fourth  stomach  of  a  young 
calf,  cured  and  preserved  for  keeping  and  use.  The 
stomach  in  its  fresh  state  always  contains  a  quantity  of 
curd  in  it  which  is  sometimes  washed  out,  together  with 
some  mucus,  which  is  almost  always  found  with  it  in 
the  stomach.  In  some  localities  this  curdy  matter  is 
satted.  for  immediate  use;  in  others  it  is  left  in  the 
stomach  and  both  are  salted  together,  and  it  is  not 
unusual  to  feed  the  calf  a  short  time  before  it  is  killed, 
so  as  to  procure  a  large  quantity  of  this  curd. 

The  mode  of  salting  varies.  Sometimes  the  stomach 
is  partly  filled  with  salt  and  some  is  applied  to  the  out- 
side, and  the  stomach  is  then  rolled  and  hung  in  a  warm 
place  to  dry.  Other  dairymen  pickle  the  stomachs  iii 
brine  for  a  few  days,  and  then  dry  them;  this  pickle  is 
then  preserved  for  use  as  rennet.  In  Cheshire,  Eng- 
land, the  stomachs  are  packed  in  jars  in  layers  with  salt 
inside  and  outside  of  them,  and  kept  for  a  year;  in  some 
European  countries  the  stomachs  are  chopped  finely, 
mixed  with  salt  and  crumbs  of  bread  into  a  paste,  and 
preserved  in  bladders 'for  nse.  In  Italy,  where  the  famous 
Parmesan  cheese  is  made,  the  stomachs  are  chopped  up 
and  made  into  a  paste,  with  salt,  pepper,  and  whey,  and 
this  paste  is  dried  for  use. 

The  common  practice  is  to  keep  these  various  prepara- 


CHEESE   MAKIKG.  359 

tions  for  twelve  months  before  using  them,  in  the  belief 
that  they  gain  strength  during  this  period  and  then  yield 
the  best  and  strongest  rennet.  When  used,  the  various 
dried  preparations  are  steeped  in  water  or  whey,  the 
infusion  being  saturated  with  salt,  and  this  liquid  is 
bottled  and  kept  for  two  months  before  it  is  made  use 
of.  In  some  places  the  stomachs  thus  steeped  are  dried 
and  salted  and  used  a  second  or  even  a  third  time,  after  a 
period  of  rest,  and  it  is  possible  so  to  use  the  stomach  re- 
peatedly for  an  indefinite  period.  The  question  then 
occurs.  By  what  means  does  the  rennet  effect  the  coagu- 
lation of  the  milk  ? 

Rennet  is  a  digestive  agent.  In  the  process  of  diges- 
tion of  milk  the  gastric  juice  which  is  secreted  by  the 
stomach  is  always  acid;  and  it  contains  a  considerable 
proportion  of  lactic  acid  as  well  as  of  hydrochloric  acid. 
The  cells  of  the  stomach  known  as  the  peptic  cells  secrete 
this  fluid,  which  contains  in  addition  to  the  acids  a  small 
quantity  of  an  albuminous  compound  known  as  pepsine, 
and  this  substance  is  supposed  to  be  chiefly  concerned 
in  the  digestion  of  albuminoid  portions  of  the  food. 
Then  we  must  believe  that  the  coagulating  property  of 
rennet  is  a  true  digestive  function,  and  that  the  liquid 
rennet  is  really  an  artificial  gastric  fluid.  We  know 
further  that  the  ripening  of  cheese  is  really  a  digestive 
process,  and  the  well-ripened  cheese  is  used  as  an  aid  to  ■ 
digestion  ;  proving  that  the  influence  of  the  rennet  is 
carried  into  and  shared  with  it  by  the  cheese.  But 
whatever  may  be  the  hidden  secret — as  yet  undiscovered 

we  cannot  free  our  mind  from  the  conviction  that  the 

coagulation  of  the  milk,  and  the  production  of  curd,  are 
really  due  to  the  action  of  lactic  acid  produced  in  the 
milk  by  the  rennet. 

Then  the  question  arises,  Why  does  milk  curdle  so 
much  more  quickly  under  the  influence  of  rennet  than 
by  the  ordinary  process  of  souring  ?    This  more  effective 


3C0  THE  dairyma:n^*s  manual. 

action  is  explained  by  the  fact  tliat  tlie  active  principle  of 
the  rennet  is  dissolved  in  the  ^vater  which  is  intimately 
diffused  though  the  whole  mass  of  the  milk  and  an 
infinite  number  of  centers  of  action  are  produced  in  con- 
tact with  every  particle  of  the  caseine.  Acid  is  thus 
formed  all  through  the  milk  ;  the  soda  is  neutralized  all 
through  it,  and  the  caseine  is  precipitated  very  rapidly. 
But  by  ordinary  souring  the  caseine  is  first  precipi- 
tated by  the  action  of  the  air ;  this  action  is  diffused 
very  slowly  through  the  milk,  chiefly  from  the  sur- 
face, and  the  curdling  is  therefore  effected  very  slowly. 
Moreover,  this  action  of  the  rennet  explains  why  the 
curd  is  solidified  and  the  whey  remains  sweet ;  because 
the  acid  is  neutralized  as  soon  as  it  is  formed,  by  its 
combination  with  the  soda  of  the  milk,  and  the  caseine 
becomes  insoluble  as  soon  as  the  alkali  has  been  com- 
pletely neutralized  by  the  acid;  the  acid  is  then,  of  course, 
neutralized  by  the  mutual  action  of  itself  and  the  soda. 
Thus  the  milk  becomes  a  neutral  or  sweet  liquid,  while 
the  caseine  is  precipitated  as  an  insoluble  curd.  If  soda 
could  be  added  again  to  the  whey  the  curd  might  be 
redissolved. 

As  soon  as  the  curd  is  set,  a  further  change  immedi- 
ately becomes  imminent.  This  is  the  acidification  of  the 
whey  by  the  continued  decomposition  of  the  remaining 
milk-sugar,  and  as  the  caseine  contains  about  forty  per 
cent  of  whey  this  change  necessarily  affects  the  curd. 
It  has  considerable  influence  upon  the  quality  of  the 
cheese  and  is  watched  very  closely  by  the  dairyman. 
This  change  is  called  the  ripening  of  the  curd  and  of  the 
cheese,  and  is  due  to  the  internal  decomposition  of  the 
curd,  and  of  the  cheese  which  the  curd  becomes  by  its 
continuance.  The  whey  remaining  in  the  cheese  contains 
lactic  acid,  and  as  some  of  this  is  necessarily  left,  there  is 
a  leaven  of  fermentation  remaining,  which  is  the  basis 
for  a  continuous  decomposition,  the  end  of  wliicli  would 


CHEESE   MAKIITG.  361 

be  putrefaction  if  the  clieese  were  kept  long  enough. 
To  prevent  this  result  salt  is  used.  The  effect  of  salt  is 
to  arrest  the  progress  of  acidity — which  is  preliminary 
to  the  more  complete  decomposition  ending  in  putrefac- 
tive fermentation — and  to  flavor  the  cheese  and  make 
it  palatable.  The  salt  is  added  to  the  curds  when  they 
are  cool,  and  this  practice  is  universally  considered  as 
requisite  to  the  securing  of  a  fine  delicate  flavor.  The 
antiseptic  effect  of  salt  necessarily  affects  the  process  of 
ripening,  hence  when  rapid  ripening  is  desired  the  least 
quantity  of  salt  or  about  two  per  cent  of  the  green  curd 
is  used,  and  when  a  slower  curing  is  wished  for  as  much 
as  two  and  a  half  or  three  pounds  per  100  are  used.  Only 
the  very  purest  and  finest  salt  should  be  used,  and  to 
get  its  best  effect  it  should  be  ground  very  fine. 

Temperature,  as  has  been  stated  in  previous  chapters, 
is  a  most  energetic  chemical  agent,  and  has  consequently 
an  important  effect  on  the  ripening  or  curing  process, 
and  this  agency  is  the  most  critical  part  of  the  treat- 
ment to  which  the  class  of  cheeses  noted  for  their  high 
flavor  is  subjected.  The  size  of  the  cheese,  too,  necessar- 
ily becomes  a  serious  element  in  this  regard,  for  a  long 
time  will  be  required  to  affect  the  whole  mass  of  a  large 
cheese,  while  a  small  one  may  be  brought  under  the  in- 
fluence of  heat  or  cold  in  a  few  hours.  The  warmth  of 
the  curing-room,  the  steadiness  of  the  temperature,  the 
freshness  and  purity  of  its  atmosphere,  the  periods 
of  turning  the  cheeses,  the  greasing  of  the  surface  for 
the  purpose  of  excluding  air,  all  these  circumstances 
have  an  important  chemical  effect  upon  the  condition  of 
the  cheese. 

A  comparatively  high  temperature  produces  rapid 
ripening,  while  a  low  temperature  so  controls  the  chem- 
ical changes  which  go  on  in  the  cheese,  and  Avhich  are 
due  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  caseine,  as  to  cause 
a  long  period  to  elapse  before  the  ripening  is  completed. 


362  THE   DAIRYMAN'S   MANUAL. 

Caseine  contains  a  large  proportion  (fifteen  and  a  half 
per  cent)  of  nitrogen,  and  during  its  decomposition  in 
the  ripening  process  some  of  this  nitrogen  is  converted 
into  ammonia,  and  it  is  to  this  product  that  the  strong 
and  pungent  ammoniacal  odor  of  such  cheeses  as  the  Lim- 
burger.  Brie,  and  others  that  are  highly  ripened  is  due. 
These  are  all  soft  unpressed  cheese,  and  are  ripened  in 
rooms  kept  at  a  temperature  of  sixty  to  seventy  degrees. 
These  cheeses  contain  much  fat,  and  as  caseine  has  the 
ability  to  produce  butyric  acid  from  the  oleine  of  the 
butter  fat,  this  strongly  odorous  compound  adds  to  the 
strength  of  this  class  of  cheeses.  But  all  highly-cured 
cheese  must  contain  more  or  less  of  these  odorous  com- 
pounds as  the  result  of  the  ripening  process. 

The  presence  of  fungi  also  affects  the  character  of 
cheese,  from  their  chemical  action  upon  the  nitrogenous 
portions  of  it.  Mold  is  the  principal  agent  of  this  char- 
acter which  affects  milk  and  cheese,  and  the  particular 
variety  is  known  as  Penicillium  cntstaceum.  This  plant 
is  very  abundantly  spread  in  dairies  and  wherever  cheese 
is  stored.  It  forms  the  greenish-blue  mold  which  is 
seen  in  old  cheese  that  has  been  kept  in  a  rather  damp 
place,  and  it  also  attacks  and  feeds  upon  bread  and  other 
moist  substances  which  are  rich  in  albuminous  matters, 
viz.,  caseine,  gluten,  albumen,  etc.  The  plant  consists 
of  fine,  white,  silky  threads  bearing  upon  their  ends  a 
mass  of  exceedingly  small  germs  or  spores  which  appear 
as  fine  dust.  These  spores  are  the  germs  of  the  plants 
and  when  dry  are  floated  off  in  the  air  and  scattered  far 
and  wide.  The  air  contains  myriads  of  these  germs  too 
small  to  be  visible,  and  the  dust  everywhere  contains 
them  in  enormous  numbers.  No  place  where  the  air 
enters  is  free  from  them. 

When  any  albuminous  or  nitrogenous  liquid  is  exposed 
to  the  air,  some  of  these  spores  fall  upon  it  and  immedi- 
ately begin  to  grow,  in  time  forming  cells  which  become 


CHEESE  MAKING.  363 

detached  from  tlie  parent  cell  and  go  on  increasing  and 
forming  other  cells  which  separa^te  and  increase  to  an  in- 
calculable extent.  It  is  supposed  by  some  chemists  that 
rennet  is  highly  charged  with  these  germs,  and  being  a 
nitrogenous  substance  they  grow  in  it  and  increase  with 
amazing  rapidity.  When  rennet  is  mixed  with  warm 
milk  these  germs  are  carried  all  through  the  mass  and 
each  one  becomes  a  center  of  most  active  growth  which 
is  encouraged  by  the  heat.  One  effect  of  these  germs  is 
to  produce  acidity,  and  doubtless  they  are  able  to  cause 
the  coagulation  of  the  milk  and  produce  curd  without 
producing  apparent  acidity;  perhaps  because  of  the  effect 
of  the  coagulation  being  to  neutralize  as  fast  as  it  is  pro- 
duced any  acidity  which  may  be  formed.  We  know,  how- 
ever, that  acidity  is  only  the  work  of  time,  and  if  it  were 
not  prevented  by  cooling  and  salting  and  pressing  the 
cheese,  by  which  moisture  and  air  are  expelled,  the  curd 
would  soon  become  acid,  next  ferment,  then  decay, 
and  finally  putrefy.  Putrefaction  and  destruction  seem 
to  be  the  ends  and  purposes  of  these  germs  in  nature,  and 
the  whole  art  of  the  dairyman,  from  beginning  to  end, 
is  a  conflict  with  these  abounding  spores,  to  prevent  or 
control  their  action  and  turn  them  to  account  m  pro- 
ducing such  effects  as  he  desires  and  prevent  any  further 
action  be3^ond  that. 

The  coagulation  of  the  curd  and  its  ripening,  and  the 
curing  of  the  cheese,  are  all  results  of  the  action  of  these 
germs,  aided  by  variations  in  temperature.  And  we  can- 
not doubt  that  they  may  be  so  used  as  to  very  greatly 
affect  the  flavour  of  the  cheese  in  its  curing.  This  will  be 
more  ^particularly  referred  to  in  describing  the  processes 
by  which  the  most  highly  valued  kinds  of  cheese  are 
cured  and  caused  to  acquire  a  certain  texture,  condition, 
and  flavor.  It  is  known  that  these  fungi  live  and  grow 
and  feed  at  the  expense  of  the  nitrogenous  substance  of 
cheese,  hence  a  cheese  rich  in  caseine  and  poor  in  fat 


364  THE   DAIRYMAiq^^S   MA1?-UAL. 

may  be  rendered  richer  in  fat  and  soft  in  texture  by  the 
lorocess  of  curing  in  which  the  abundant  growth  of  these 
fungi  or  molds  is  turned  to  account. 

Another  effect  of  these  germs,  probably  of  a  specific 
kind,  is  to  render  cheese  unwholesome  and  even  poison- 
ous. That  cheese  is  sometinies  poisonous  is  a  well 
known  fact.  But  what  causes  the  poison  is  not  so 
well  known.  Recent  discoveries,  however,  lead  us  to  be- 
lieve that  a  certain  fungous  growth  in  cheese  is  able  to 
produce  a  substance  which  is  poisonous  to  animals,  caus- 
ing nausea,  vomiting,  and  diarrhea,  with  intense  nervous 
depression,  and  this  supposed  poisonous  product  has 
been  separated  from  tlie  cheese  and  tested  with  similar 
results  which  occur  from  eating  the  cheese.  Another 
supposition  is,  that  the  rennet  is  the  origin  of  the  trouble, 
and  that  the  poison  is  introduced  into  the  cheese  by 
means  of  rennet  that  has  become  tainted  or  putrid.  An 
analysis  of  the  cheese  has  caused  the  separation  of  an 
offensive  putrid  animal  matter  which  produces  vomiting, 
and  which  seems  to  be  exhausted  or  dissipated  when  the 
fermentation  has  passed  away.  It  is  an  instructive  ex- 
ample of  the  most  injurious  effects  of  any  uncleanness 
whatever  in  the  various  operations  of  the  dairy,  and  the 
absolute  and  imperative  necessity  for  guarding  most 
carefully  every  avenue  of  approach  against  injurious 
matter  of  every  kind. 

FANCY    CHEESE. 

Cheese,  like  all  otlier  products  used  us  food,  is  made 
more  attractive  and  salable  by  putting  it. into  convenient 
forms,  and  making  it  of  excellent  quality  and  of  desirable 
flavor  for  the  many  consumers  who  differ  in  taste  and 
fancy.  The  standard  American  cheese  weighing  sixty 
pounds  is  too  large  for  domestic  use,  and  the  smaller 
ones  of  about  thirty  pounds  are  still  too  heavy  and  last 
too  long  for  ordinary  domestic  consumption.     There  are 


CHEESE   MAKIKG.  365 

many  varieties  of  small  cheeses  made,  however,  which  find 
an  excellent  market,  and  there  is  room  for  more.  The 
small  round  cheese  known  as  Edam,  for  instance,  which 
weighs  about  four  pounds,  sells  readily  for  about  one 
dollar  each  ;  the  English  dairy  cheese  in  imitation  of  the 
favorite  Gloucester  cheese,  fiat  and  circular  in  shape,  and 
weighing  about  twelve  pounds,  sells  for  twenty-five  cents 
per  pound  ;  the  cylindrical  cheeses  made  to  imitate  the 
English  Wiltshire  retails  at  twenty-two  cents  per  pound; 
the  American  French'  Brie,  a  soft  fat  cheese,  and  the 
American  Limburger,  Schweitzer,  Neufchatel,  Gonda,and 
other  highly-flavored  kinds  are  also  in  good  demand  and 
sell  at  highly  remunerative  prices.  Small  home-made 
cheeses,  too,  are  easily  salable,  and  are  exceedingly  desir- 
able for  domestic  use.  Such  cheeses  weigh  about  ten 
pounds  each  and  sell  easily  for  eighteen  to  twenty  cents 
per  pound. 

The  process  of  making  small  cheeses  of  this  kind  is  as 
follows  :  The  morning's  milk,  well  aired  by  pouring  it 
through  a  strainer  from  one  pail  to  another  several  times, 
by  which  it  is  reduced  to  about  seventy  or  seventy-two 
degrees,  is  mixed  with  the  evening's  milk  in  a  wooden 
vat  or  tub  of  convenient  size.  The  temperature  of  the 
whole  should  then  be  raised  to  not  less  than  seventy-eight 
or  more  than  eighty-four  degrees.  The  rennet  is  then 
added  in  the  proportion  of  one  liquid  ounce  to  fifty  quarts 
of  milk,  or  at  the  rate  of  half  a  pint  to  100  gallons.  The 
rennet  is  made  thus  :  The  stomach  of  a  sucking  calf  in 
which  the  milk  is  digested  is  emptied  of  its  contents, 
well  salted  inside  and  out,  and  hung  up  to  dry.  The  dry 
stomach  is  ke^^t  in  this  condition  for  two  or  three 
months  or  even  twelve  to  eighteen  months,  during  which 
time  it  becomes  stronger  and  more  effective  for  its  pur- 
pose the  older  it  is.  It  is  then  steeped  for  three  weeks 
in  a  quart  of  water  in  which  salt  has  been  dissolved  until 
no  more  is  'taken  up.     The  liquid  is  bottled  for  use  and 


366 

the  stomach  is  again  rubbed  with  salt  and  hung  up  in  a 
dry  phice  for  several  months,  when  it  will  have  regained 
its  strength  and  is  ready  for  a  second  use.  This  salt 
extract  is  the  rennet  that  is  to  be  used.  The  rennet  is 
well  mingled  with  the  milk  by  stirring  thoroughly,  and 
in  one  hour  the  curd  will  have  formed.  If  the  curd  is 
sooner  formed  and  too  much  rennet  has  been  used  the 
cheese  will  have  a  sharp  flavor  and  will  be  hard  and 
tough.  The  curd  is  then  cut  with  a  long-bladed  knife 
into  small  dice  or  squares  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  in  size.  A  frame  having  small  wires  stretched  the 
right  distance  apart  is  used  for  cutting  the  curd.  This 
facilitates  the  separation  of  the  whey  from  the  curd. 
Some  of  the  whey  is  drawn  off  after  the  curd  has  stood 
half  an  hour  and  is  heated  to  nearly  boiling.  It  is  then 
turned  on  to  the  curd,  which  is  stirred  well  until  the 
whole  is  brought  to  a. heat  of  100  degrees.  It  remains  in 
the  hot  whey  for  half  an  hour,  when  this  is  drawn  off 
and  the  curd  well  broken  with  the  hands,  thrown  into  a 
heap  in  the  center  of  the  tub,  covered  with  a  cloth,  and 
left  for  half  an  hour.  It  is  brokpn  up  fine  and  again 
heaped  and  left  half  an  hour  more,  and  this  is  once  more 
repeated,  when  it  will  be  found  slightly  acid. 

The  acidification  is  at  once  stopped  by  breaking  the 
curd  fine  with  the  hand  and  spreading  it  to  cool,  when  it 
i9»pressed  by  the  hands  in  the  molds  and  left  under  slight 
pressure  for  half  a  day.  It  is  then  broken  up  fine  once 
more,  salted  at  the  rate  of  two  ounces  of  salt  to  seven 
pounds  of  curd,  and  is  put  into  a  hoop  lined  with  a 
cloth  and  pressed  under  a  screw  or  a  lever,  the  pressure 
being  at  the  rate  of  twelve  pounds  to  every  square  inch 
of  surface  of  the  cheese.  A.  cheese  seven  inches  in 
diameter  will  require  a  pressure  equal  to  450  pounds. 
If  a  lever  is  used  and  the  long  arm  is  five  times  as  long 
as  the  short  one  a  weight  of  ninety  pounds  would  have  to 
be  suspended  at  the  end  of  the  longer  arm.     The  wrapper 


CHEESE   MAKING.        •  367 

is  changed  the  second  day  and  again  on  the  third  day. 
The  mold  is  placed  on  a  bench  in  which  a  small  groove  is 
cut  to  carry  off  the  whey  which  drains  from  the  press. 
After  three  days'  pressure  the  cheese  is  taken  from  the 
press,  bandaged,  and  turned  daily  for  several  days.  It 
should  be  kept  in  a  room  or  dry  cellar  where  the  tem- 
perature is  not  more  than  sixty-five  degrees.  At  the 
end  of  three  months  the  cheese  is  ready  for  use,  but 
may  be  kept  in  a  cool  place  for  several  months  longer 
without  deterioration.  To  keep  out  the  cheese  maggot 
the  cheeses  may  be  wrapped  iu  oiled  paper,  being  first 
covered  with  melted  beef  suet  well  rubbed  into  the  crust. 
The  maggot  is  the  larvae  of  a  small  fly  which  lays  its 
eggs  in  cheese.  Small  cheeses  may  be  made  in  this 
method  by  adding  the  curd  of  one  day's  making  to  that 
of  the  next  day,  and  even  a  third  day's  curd  may  be 
grafted  on  to  the  second  day's  make.  All  that  is  re- 
quired is  to  slightly  break  up  the  surface  of  the  cheese 
as  it  lies  in  the  press  and  add  the  new  curd  to  it  in  the 
mold  and  apply  the  pressure.  One  hundred  pounds  of 
milk  (48  quarts)  will  make  about  ten  pounds  of  cheese. 
Skimmed  milk  makes  a  very  good  cheese  if  care-is 
taken  not  to  overheat  the  milk,  nor  to  use  rennet  too 
freely,  nor  to  leave  the  curd  to  become  too  distinctly 
acid  in  the  vat.  For  a  small  cheese  all  the  material  re- 
quired consists  of  a  cedar  tub  of  the  proper  size,  a. low 
bench  or  table,  and  a  lever  or  screw  press  of  the  simplest 
construction. 

Still  smaller  cheeses  may  be  made  as  follows:  The 
fresh  sweet  milk  is  curdled  by  the  liquid  rennet  made 
by  steeping  a  fresh  or  dry  salted  stomach  of  a  3^onng 
unweaned  calf  or  lamb  iu  a  quart  of  clear  strained 
brine  for  three  weeks.  Of  this  liquid  rennet  one  table- 
spoonful  is  enough  for  forty  quarts  of  milk,  and  one 
teaspoonful  for  twelve  or  thirteen  quarts.  Too  much 
rennet  wdll  make  the  curd  hard  ;  and  as  this  kind  of 


368  THE  daikyman's  manual. 

cheese  should  be  soft,  rennet  should  be  used  sparingly. 
About  four  quarts  of  milk  will  make  a  pound  of  cheese. 
The  curd  should  be  used  fresh  and  before  it  has  cooled. 
If  it  has  cooled  it  should  be  warmed  up  to  ninety  de- 
grees. The  curd  of  twelve  or  fifteen  quarts  may  be 
made  in  a  large  tin  pan.  The  rennet  is  stirred  in  the . 
milk  and  the  milk  is  left  in  a  warm  place  for  an  hour, 
when  the  curd  is  set.  A  convenient  method  of  setting 
the  curd  is  to  lay  a  square  of  fine  muslin  in  the  pan, 
securing  the  ends  on  the  edge  and  pouring  the  milk 
into  the  muslin,  when  the  curd  is  set  the  corners  and 
edges  of  this  are  drawn  together  and  tied,  and  the  whole 
lifted  out  and  hung  up  to  drain.  As  soon  as  the  whey 
is  drained  off  the  curd  is  put  into  the  molds.  These  are 
made  of  thin  veneers  of  some  sweet  wood,  as  maple  or 
beech,  or  of  tin.  They  may  be  round,  or  any  shape  to 
suit  the  taste,  and  without  bottom  or  top,  about  three 
inches  by  two,  and  one  and  one-half  deep,  or  larger  if 
desired.  Mats  made  of  rushes,  or  clean  rye  or  wheat 
straw  sewn  together  (figure  80),  are  used  to  rest  the 
molds  upon  while  the  cheese  is  making,  and  the  mats 
are  placed  upon  a  towel  which  absorbs  the  moisture. 
The  molds  and  their  contents  are  turned  daily  for  three 
days,  and,  if  desired,  are  sprinkled  with  salt  at  each 
turning. 

The  cheeses  are  ready  for  eating  fresh  in  three  days  ; 
or,  they  may  be  taken  to  an  airy  dairy-house  or  cellar 
and  kept  for  curing  for  six  weeks  or  two  months,  being 
turned  every  day  and  laid  upon  a  layer  of  sweet  straw 
upon  a  lattice  shelf.  The  curing  process  may  be  so  man- 
aged as  to  give  a  great  variety  of  flavors  to  the  cheese. 
If  mold  gathers  upon  them  it  is  scraped  off  occasionally. 
Cloths  dipped  in  vinegar  may  be  wrapped  around  the 
cheeses,  or  these  may  be  covered  with  pulverized  sweet 
herbs.  Much  ingenuity  may  be  exercised  in  this  way  to 
vary  the  character  of  the  cheese,  and  doubtless  in  time 


CHEESE   MAKING. 


369 


some  discoveries  may  be  made  through  which  one  may- 
hit  upon  a  desirable  market  product  that  will  furnish  a 
profitable  industry  for  the  family.  This  is  an  unde- 
veloped possibility  with  us.  In  other  countries  millions 
of  cheeses  of  this  kind,  but  in  great  variety,  are  made 
and  sold  yearly,  and  some  persons  have  made  in  past 
years  a  wide  reputation  which  has  descended  Avith  its 
comfortable  profits  to  their  children. 

A  very  rich  cheese  is  made  of  pure  cream,  and  eaten 


Fig.  79.— MOLD  FOR  SMALL  CHEESE.        Fig.  80.— MAT. 

while  fresh.  This  is  sold  in  the  English  and  French  mar- 
kets at  a  high  price,  and  is  also  made  for  domestic  use. 
The  cream  is  taken  from  the  milk  as  soon  as  it  is  thick, 
but  while  yet  sweet,  placed  iu  a  muslin  cloth,  and  hung 
up  to  drain  over  a  pan  in  which  the  drippings  are 
caught.  After  hanging  in  this  way  in  an  airy,  clean 
dairy-room  for  twenty  hours,  it  becomes  firm  enough  to 
be  placed  in  the  molds.  The  mold  is  a  small  wooden  box 
or  frame  about  five  inches  long,  three  wide,  and  one 
and  a  half  thick,  without  bot- 
tom or  top  (figure  79).  This 
is  placed  upon  a  layer  of  clean, 
smooth  straw,  and  a  mat  of 
rushes,  made  as  shown  in  figure 
80,  is  put  under  it.  The  cream  is 
then  placed  in  the  mold,  which 
is  lined  with  a  neatly  fitting  square  piece  of  muslin 
folded  at  the  corners;  this  is  turned  down  over  the  cream 
and  a  second  mat  of  rushes,  which  fits  the  mold,  is  laid 
upon  it,     A  block  of  wood  and  a  light  weight  are  placed 


•llllllllllli 


Fig.   81.— A  CREAM  CHEESE. 


370 


THE   DATRYMAIT  S   MAl^UAL. 


on  the  mat  to  press  the  cream  into  the  shape  of  the 
mold,  where  it  remains  until  it  has  become  set  to  the 
shape,  which  is  in  two  or  three  hours.  The  cheese  is 
marked  on  the  top  and  bottom  by  the  rushes  of  the  mats, 
which  give  it  a  corrugated  appearance  (figure  81).  It  is 
fit  for  use  as  soon  as  it  is  set.  When  sent  to  market  it 
is  not  removed  from  the  molds  until  it  is  sold  for  use. 
No  salt  is  used  in  the  preparation  ;  this  is  added  as  it  is 
eaten.  The  ordinary  price  of  this  cheese  is  the  same  as 
that  of  the  best  butter.  When  made  for  home  use,  and 
eaten  fresh,  it  is  a  choice  delicacy.  It  is  sparingly  made 
in  the  yiciuity  of  New  York,  and  sent  to  market  wrapped 


Fig.  82.— DRAi^ncxG  table. 

in  tinfoil.  In  making  these  cheeses  it  is  best  to  thicken 
the  cream  by  scalding  the  milk  after  it  has  stood  in  the 
pans  for  twelve  hours.  The  pans  are  set  on  a  stove  until 
the  cream  *^  crinkles,"  when  they  are  returned  to  the 
shelves.  In  twelve  hours  more  the  cream  is  quite  thick 
and  is  ready  to  go  into  the  molds. 

Pot  Cheese. — The  simplest  form  of  domestic  cheese 
is  the  "  pot  cheese."  This  is  made  of  curd  from  sour 
skimmed  milk  gradually  heated  to  100  degrees,  when  the 
whey  separates.  The  curd  is  dipped  into  a  square  of 
thin  muslin  gathered  into  a  loose  bag  and  hung  up  on  a 
convenient  hook  or  to  a  peg  purposely  placed  in  a  hole 
made  for  it  near  the  edge  of  the  draining  table  (figure 


CHEESE   MAKING.  371 

82).  This  is  a  common  table  with  a  white-wood  or  maple 
top,  in  which  a  few  grooves  are  cut  leading  to  a  drain 
hole,  as  shown  ;  a  pail  placed  under  the  drain  will  serve 
to  catch  the  drip  from  the  table.  The  cloth  containing 
the  curd  hangs  from  the  edge  of  the  table  and  drains  into 
the  pail.  The  curd  may  be  pressed  slightly  in  small 
hoops  and  sprinkled  with  salt  on  both  sides  ;  then  placed 
on  a  mat  made  of  green  rushes  sewn  together,  as  shown 
at  figure  80,  and  turned  three  or  four  times  a  day  for 
four  days  and  salted  slightly  once  a  day  on  each  side. 
These  cheeses  may  be  kept  for  some  weeks  to  cure,  and 
will  acquire  a  very  fine  flavor.  The  curd  may  be  kept  in 
the  cloth  for  two  or  three  days  and  each  day  an  addi- 
tional quantity  may  be  made  until  sufiBcient  is  gathered 
to  make  a  cheese  of  several  pounds,  when  the  whole  of 
the  curd  may  be  placed  for  a  few  minutes  in  a  vessel  of 
warm  whey  and  then  put  to  press  together.  Curd  may 
be  made  in  the  cloth  by  laying  this  in  the  pan  before 
the  milk  is  curdled,  and  when  the  curd  is  formed  gath- 
ering the  edges  together  and  tying  them  and  lifting  the 
whole  out  of  the  pan  and  hanging  it  to  drain.  The  curd 
is  not  then  disturbed  or  broken,  and  when  whole  milk 
is  used,  as  for  better  cheese,  there  is  no  risk  of  losing 
any  of  the  cream  with  the  whey  as  it  drains  off. 

A  Fine  Cheese. — A  remarkably  fine  small  cheese  is 
made  as  follows  :  The  newly-drawn  milk  is  set  away  to 
cool  after  having  been  strained  twice  and  poured  from 
one  pail  to  another  to  air  it  thoroughly.  After  three 
hours  it  is  slowly  heated  until  the  usual  pellicle  forms 
upon  its  surface.  When  the  pellicle  is  firm  enough  to 
be  lifted,  the  milk  is  removed  and  one  teaspoonful  of 
rennet  is  added  and  stirred  in  to  twenty  quarts  of  milk. 
The  evening's  milk  may  be  skimmed  and  warmed  in  a 
separate  vessel,  to  the  right  point,  and  then  mixed  with 
the  morning's  milk,  and  the  rennet  added.  Or,  by  keep- 
ing the  milk  in  ice  water  in  deep  pails,  it  may  be  pre- 


372 


THE   dairyman's  MANUAL. 


seryed  sweet  for  two  or  three  days  and  then  made  into 
cheese  ;  or  the  curd  may  be  kept  as  above  mentioned  and 
added  to  the  new^  curd,  in  which  case  the  rich  quahty  of 
the  cheese  may  be  preserved.  The  milk  may  be  curdled 
in  a  large  jar  or  tin  pail,  or  in  several  of  them,  and  the 
curd  may  be  carefully  lifted  with  a  common  dipper  or 
ladle,  and  placed  at  once  in  small  cylindrical  molds  of 
tin  (figure  83).  Empty  fruit  cans,  from  which  the  top 
and  bottom  have  been  melted,  and  which  have  been  cut 
down  to  four  inches  in  length,  will  serve  the  purpose 
very  well.  From  five  to  six  hours  are  required  to  form 
the  curd.  The  molds  are  filled  with  the  curd  as  they 
stand  on  the  rush  mats  on  the  draininor  table  before  de- 


MMMMWHM 


Fig.  83. 

TIN  MOLD   AND   STRAW  MAT. 


Fig.  84. 

fra:vie  for  draining  citeese. 


scribed  ;  the  whey  gradually  flows  away,  and  in  two  days 
the  cheeses  will  have  become  firm  enough  for  the  mold 
to  be  lifted  off  from  them.  The  cheeses  are  sprinkled 
with  salt  and  left  on  the  mats  for  three  or  four  days, 
when  they  will  be  ready  for  the  curing.  This  may  be 
done  on  a  shelf  of  narrow  laths  placed  six  inches  apart. 
The  cheeses  are  placed  on  a  frame  of  laths  shown  at  fig- 
ure 84,  the  frame  being  kept  on  the  shelf,  but  removed 
to  the  table  when  it  is  necessary  to  salt  and  turn  the 
cheeses.  The  cheese  during  the  curing  should  be  ex- 
posed to  abundant  currents  of  air,  for  it  is  on  this  airing 
that  the  effect  of  the  curing  depends.  It  is  this  system 
of  curing  which  gives  the  exquisite  flavor  to  the  small 
foreign  cheeses,  as  the  Roquefort,  the  Camembert,  and 


CHEESE  MAKING.  ^^^ 

others,  and  these  are  precisely  the  kinds  that  can  be 
made  very  well  in  family  dairies,  or  in  other  small  dairies 
where  a  dozen  cows  are  kept. 

The  cheeses  in  such  a  process  of  curing  require  to  be 
turned  every  second  day  for  three  or  four  weeks.  If 
mold  gathers  on  them  it  is  wiped  or  scraped  off,  and 
when  moisture  is  perceived  upon  the  surface  this  stage 
of  curing  is  completed.  The  cheeses  and  the  frame  are 
then  removed  to  a  dry,  close  cellar,  where  they  are  kept 
for  one  month,  being  turned  every  second  day.  The 
cheeses  at  this  period  will  have  shrunk  to  one  inch  in 
thickness  and  three  in  diameter.  If  they  are  kept  after 
this  they  should  be  wrapped  in  paraffine  paper  or  tin -foil. 
The  delicious  English  Stilton  cheeses,  weighing  from 
eight  to  twelve  pounds,  and  six  or  seven  inches  in  diam- 
eter by  nine  or  ten  in  hight,  are  made  in  this  manner, 
but  with  the  addition  of  cream  to  the  new  milk.  The 
milk  of  Jersey  cows  having  twenty  per  cent  of  cream 
would  make  a  very  rich  cheese,  and  if  the  curing  were  as 
well  done  it  would  equal  this  famed  English  cheese. 

The  Stilton  Cheese  is  one  specially  suited  to  a  small 
dairy.  It  is  made  in  the  following  manner,  to  which  all 
its  peculiarity  is  due  :  A  strong  brine  is  made  of  salt  and 
cold  water,  and  a  number  of  sweet  herbs,  thyme,  hyssop, 
sweet  briar,  marjoram,  dill  and  savory,  tied  in  bunches, 
are  steeped  in  it,  with  a  few  whole  pepper-corns,  for  four 
days,  when  the  clear  liquor  is  racked  off.  The  calves' 
stomachs  are  steeped  in  this  brine  for  five  days,  when 
the  rennet  is  kept  for  use.  The  morning's  new  milk  is 
mixed  with  the  cream  of  the  previous  evening's  milk  in 
a  narrow  deep  pail.  The  milk  is  heated  to  ninety 
degrees  and  the  rennet  added.  The  pail  is  lined  with  a 
cloth,  so  that  when  the  curd  is  formed  it  can  be  lifted 
out  without  breaking  and  placed  in  the  mold.  The 
curd  is  set  in  a  warm,  airy  room.  The  mold  is  pierced 
with  small  holes  to  permit  the  whey  to  drain  off  without 


3T4:  THE  dairyman's   MAKtAL. 

pressure;  after  a  short  time  a  light  pressure  is  made 
upon  the  curd.  When  the  cheese  has  sufficient  consist- 
ence it  is  removed  from  the  hoop  and  bound  with  a  cloth, 
which  is  changed  and  tightened  every  day  as  the  cheese 
shrinks.  It  is  turned  and  wiped  daily.  When  the 
crust  is  firm  the  cloth  is  removed  and  the  surface  of  the 
cheese  is  brushed  twice  a  day  for  three  months.  It  is 
then  placed  in  the  curing-room,  where  it  is  kept  to  ripen 
for  a  year  or  eighteen  months.  No  salt  is  used  in  mak- 
ing this  cheese.  A'eins  of  green  and  blue  mold  are 
formed  in  the  cheese  by  thrusting  into  it  thin  skewers 
w^hich  have  been  rubbed  with  some  old  cheese  in  which 
the  mold  has  been  developed  ;  the  mold  spreads  from 
these  places  through  the  body  of  the  cheese,  giving  it  a 
peculiai'  marbled  appearance. 

Sage  Cheese  is  another  kind  that  may  be  made  in  a 
small  dairy.  This  is  also  known  as  green  cheese.  For  a 
cheese  of  eight  pounds  two  large  haudfuls  of  green  sage 
and  half  as  much  parsley  and  marigold  leaves  are  bruised 
and  infused  over-night  in  a  portion  of  new  milk.  The 
colored  milk  is  added  to  one-third  of  the  milk  to  be 
curdled,  and  this  and  the  rest  of  the  milk  are  curdled 
separately.  The  curds  are  drained,  scalded  and  broken 
in  the  usual  manner  of  the  Cheddar  system,  and  the 
colored  curd  is  then  mixed,  either  evenly  or  in  various 
shapes  and  devices,  with  the  other  curd  as  it  is  placed  in 
the  hoop.  Much  ingenuity  is  sometimes  exercised  in 
forming  these  devices  by  means  of  appropriate  cutters 
and  molds,  and  incorporating  them  with  the  white  curd. 
The  cheese  is  pressed  and  cured  in  the  usual  manner. 
Small  green  cheeses  are  made  by  bruising  young  sage 
leaves  aiid  spinach  leaves  in  equal  parts  in  a  mortar  and 
squeezing  out  the  juice.  The  juice  is  added  to  the  milk 
before  the  rennet  is  mixed,  and  the  curd  being  formed, 
it  is  carefully  broken  very  evenly,  and  put  to  press  with 
gentle  pressure  for  five  or  six  hours.     It  is  salted  twice  a 


CHEESE  MA^il5"G.  375 

day  for  five  days  and  turned  daily  for  forty  days,  when  it 
is  ready  for  use.  This  is  a  delicious  cheese  when  made 
of  rich  milk  and  skillfully  handled.  It  is  made  of  small 
size,  weighing  less  than  one  pound. 

The  Edam  Cheese  is  one  of  the  most  excellent  and 
therefore  popular  of  all  the  small  kinds. 

Edam  is  a  town  of  Holland,  near  the  well-known 
Zuyder  Zee,  and  about  twelve  miles  northeast  of  Amster- 
dam. This  town  is  the  center  of  the  manufacture  of 
those  nearly  globular  reddish-colored  cheeses,  which  are 
largely  imported  into  this  country,  and  sold  in  all  large 
cities  at  from  twenty  to  thirty  cents  a  pound.  Edam 
cheese,  designed  specially  for  exportation  to  foreign 
countries,  is  carefully  made  and  will  keep  several  years. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  favorite  cheese  for  use  upon  ships 
while  making  long  voyages,  and  is  almost  the  only 
cheese  which  is  exported  to  India,  China,  and  Australia. 
There  is  a  demand  for  small  cheeses  of  high  flavor, 
and  the  Edam  cheese  to  some  extent  fills  this  demand. 
It  is  a  cheese  of  three  or  four  pounds  weight,  with  a 
sharp,  almost  pungent,  yet  agreeable  flavor,  and,  as  we 
have  already  said,  will  keep  for  years.  The  process  of 
manufacture,  as  described  by  M.  Le  Senechal,  director 
of  the  dairy  of  St.  Angeau,  in  Holland,  is  as  follows  :  As 
the  peculiar  purposes  for  which  this  cheese  is  destined 
forbid  the  use  of  too  rich  a  milk,  and  the  presence  of  too 
much  cream  or  butter  in  the  curd,  it  is  usual  at  the 
hight  of  the  season — that  is,  from  the  middle  of  August 
to  the  middle  of  October — to  skim  from  one-third  to  a 
half  of  the  milk  ;  at  other  times  the  whole  milk  is  \ised. 
The  milk,  brought  to  a  proper  condition  as  to  richness,  is 
placed  in  the  vat,  and  raised  to  a  temperature  of  about 
ninety  to  ninety-two  degrees  in  summer,  and  ninety-two 
to  ninety-five  degrees  in  winter,  when  the  rennet  is  added 
in  the  proportion  of  a  quarter  of  a  pint  to  100  quarts  of 
milk,  .or  somewhat  less,  according  to  circumstances.    The 


376  THE  DAIRTMAX'S  MAKUAL. 

desired  color,  a  light  yellow,  is  jDroduced  by  the  admix- 
ture of  a  portion  of  annatto,  the  quantity  depending  upon 
the  season,  the  richness  of  the  milk,  the  quality  of  the 
pasture,  and  other  incidental  circumstances,  which  the 
skilled  dairyman  so  well  understands.  The  usual  quan-' 
tity  is  a  teaspoonful  of  a  liquid  preparation  of  annatto 
to  a  quarter  of  a  pint  of  rennet.  The  liquid  annatto 
used  in  Holland  is  about  the  same  as  that  used  in  the 


Fig.  85.— PRESSING  INTO  MOLDS. 


New  York  factories.  The  rennet  and  colorinor  matter 
having  been  added  to  the  milk,  it  is  stirred  for  one 
minute  and  left  to  rest. 

As  soon  as  the  curd  is  thoroughly  set,  it  is  cut  into 
small  fragments  with  a  curd-knife  made  of  a  number  of 
fine  wires  fixed  in  a  frame.  This  is  done  very  carefully, 
lest  the  cream  in  the  curd  might  escape  into  the  whey 
and  be  lost.  The  curd  is  then  gathered  into  a  mass  and 
freed  from  the  whey,  after  which  it  is  i^ressed  by  the 


CHEESE   MAKl]!fG. 


hands  into  the  molds,  as  shown  in  figure  85.  In  this 
process  the  workman  tills  each  hand  with  curd  and 
presses  it  together,  reducing  it  to  a  soft  cake,  which  he 


throws  with  force  into  the  hottom  of  the  mold.  He 
repeats  this  process  until  the  mold  is  filled,  when  the 
mass  of  curd  is  pressed  togetlier  and  taken  out,  and  re- 


3^8  The  dairyman^s  makual. 

versed  three  or  four  times  until  it  is  compact.  The 
small  holes  at  the  hottom  of  the  mold  are  kept  clean  to 
permit  the  whey  to  drain  off.  As  soon  as  the  cheese  is 
sufficiently  pressed  with  the  hands  it  is  taken  from  the 
mold  and  plunged  into  a  bath  of  hot  whey  (122°)  for 
two  minutes.  It  is  then  again  pressed  in  the  mold  and 
shaped,  wrapped  in  a  cloth,  replaced  in  the  mold  and 
pressed  (figure  86).  The  cheese  remains  in  the  press 
for  one  or  two  hours  in  the  winter,  six  or 
seven  hours  in  the  spring,  and  twelve  hours 
in  the  summer.  After  coming  from  the 
press  the  cheese  is  put  in  the  salting  mold 
(figure  87).  This  gives  the  cheese  its  final 
Fig.  87.  shape.  The  cheeses  are  sprinkled  with  salt 
daily  for  ten  days  while  in  these  molds,  and 
are  frequently  turned  to  drain,  the  whey  passing  off  to 
the  draining  table  through  a  hole  in  the  mold. 

After  this  stage  the  cheeses  are  dipped  in  moist  salt, 
wiped  dry,  and  placed  upon  the  drying  shelves  to  cure. 
The  shelves  are  arranged  as  seen  in  figure  88,  and  the 
cheeses  are  placed  upon  tliem  in  regular  order,  according  to 
their  age.  Here  they  remain  three  months,  being  turned 
every  day  the  first  month,  every  second  day  the  second 
month,  and  once  a  week  during  the  third  month.  .  At  the 
end  of  twenty-four  to  thirty  days  they  are  dipped  in  a 
bath  of  tepid  water  (about  sixty-six  to  seventy  degrees), 
washed,  brushed,  and  set  to  dry  in  an  open  place.  When 
perfectly  dry  they  are  replaced  upon  the  shelves.  Fifteen 
days  afterwards  they  are  again  washed,  dried,  and  greased 
with  linseed  oil,  when  they  are  returned  to  the  shelves, 
w^here  they  remain  until  sold  for  home  consumption. 
When  prepared  for  exportation,  they  undergo  some  fur- 
ther processes,  to  give  them  a  lighter  color  upon  the 
outside,  and  also  to  preserve  them  for  a  longer  period. 
They  are  first  scraped  smooth  with  a  sharp  knife,  then, 
for  the  English  and  American  markets,  they  are  rubbed 


Cheese  making. 


^n 


with  a  mixture  of  linseed  oil  and  annatto,  which  gives 
them  a  deep  orange  color.  These  cheeses  are  now  largely 
made  in  this  country  and  are  sold  for  about  one  dollar 
each  at  retail.     They  are  made  in  precisely  the  manner 


described,  and  are  not  *to  be  distinguished  from  the  Hol- 
land made  cheeses  in  flavor  or  appearance. 

The  Neufchatel  Cheese  is  an  exceedingly  popular 
small  cheese  in  the  markets  of  our  large  cities.  It  is  the 
American  imitation  of  the  French  Neufchatel.  The 
best  of  these  cheeses  are  made  and  ripened  with  great 
care.     They  are  usually  made  from  whole  milk,  which 


380  THE 

immediately  after  being  drawn  is  strained  into  crocks  and 
treated  with  rennet.  The  crocks  are  then  placed  in 
boxes,  which  are  covered  with  woolen  cloth.  After  having 
stood  forty-eight  hours  the  crocks  are  emptied  into  a 
basket  lined  with  a  clean  white  cloth,  and  standing  over 
a  trough  to  drain.  x\fter  twelve  hours  the  corners  of 
the  cloth  are  folded  closely  over  the  curds,  which  thus 
enveloped  are  placed  within  a  press  and  left  for  twelve 
hours.  They  are  then  put  into  a  strong  linen  cloth,  in 
which  they  are  thoroughly  kneaded  and  rubljed  in  every 
part  until  the  caseous  and  buttery  jDarts  are  perfectly 
mixed  and  made  into  a  homogeneous  paste.  If  this  paste 
is  too  soft  the  cloth  is  changed  until  the  surplus  moisture 
is  withdrawn.  If  it  is  too  hard  and  dry  more  curds  are 
added  from  that  of  the  next  milking  (which  is  now  drain- 
ing). The  mold,  which  is  open  at  both  ends,  is  then 
rather  more  than  filled  with  the  paste.  It  is  held  upright 
over  a  table  with  the  left  hand,  while  the  top  is  patted 
down  with  the  palm  of  the  right  hand  so  as  to  completely 
fill  the  whole  mold.  The  surplus  is  then  cut  away,  and 
the  little  cheese  is  pushed  out  from  the  mold. 

The  cheese,  after  molding,  is  dusted  on  the  two  ends 
with  very  fine  and  dry  salt,  that  accidentally  remaining  on 
the  hands  being  sufiBcient  for  salting  the  sides.  It  is 
then  stood  on  a  board,  not  touching  its  neighbors,  and 
left  to  drain  for  twenty-four  hours.  The  cheeses  of  this 
making  are  then  carried  to  the  store-room,  where  they 
are  laid  on  their  beds  of  clean  straw  (on  shelves),  being 
placed  in  uniform  rows  crosswise  of  the  straw,  and  lying 
about  the  distance  of  their  diapieter  from  eacli  otlicr. 
Two  days  later  they  are  turned,  each  one  being  rolled  half 
way  over;  this  brings  them  on  to  dry  places  in  the  straw. 
Three  days  later  they  are  turned  up  on  end  and  stood  on 
tlie  space  between  tlie  original  rows.  After  five  days 
they  are  reversed  and  placed  on  their  other  ends,  and 
here  they  stand  five  days  longer.     They  are  now  six- 


CHEESE    MAKIJ^G.  381 

teen  days  old,  and  have  become  somewhat  dry,  a  skin 
being  formed  over  them.  If  they  are  not  now  coated 
with  a  slight  blue  mold  they  are  again  reversed  and 
allowed  to  stand  longer.  When  this  mold  has  appeared 
they  are  taken  to  a  dry,  cool  room,  where  they  are  turned 
(end  for  end)  every  five  days,  and  they  are  watched  (with 
much  care  as  to  atmospheric  conditions)  until  they  are 
well  coated  with  a  reddish  globular  mold.  If  the  pro- 
cesses have  all  been  well  managed  this  mold  will  appear 
uniformly  on  all  sides,  and  the  ripening  will  be  equal 
throughout.  After  this  they  are  turned  less  frequently, 
first  once  in  ten  days  and  then  once  a  fortnight.  At  the 
end  of  three  months  they  should  be  sold,  as  soon  after 
this  time  they  will  begin  to  run.  • 

Well-made  Neufchatel  cheese  should  be  a  homogeneous 
paste,  free  from  granulation,  and  spreading  smoothly  like 
butter. 

Tlie  care  and  close  attention  which  the  manufacture 
demands  justifies  the  high  price  that  the  well-made 
article  brings  in  the  European  markets— a  price  which 
the  more  simply  made  American  imitation  can  not 
command. 

In  the  manufacture  of  this  class  of  cheeses  quality 
should  be  made  the  first  consideration.  The  French  call 
this  class  of  cheeses  '\fromages  de  consistance  molle,^''  or 
simply  "  soft  cheeses."  They  should  be  of  a  buttery  con- 
sistence, with  a  pleasant  sharp  flavor  and  an  ammoniacal 
odor,  but  not  so  pronounced  as  that  of  the  Limburger. 
The  rich  buttery  consistence  is  procured  by  the  addition 
of  some  of  the  cream  of  other  milk  of  the  previous  even- 
ing, and  a  little  more  rennet  is  then  used.  The  low 
temperature,  the  small  quantity  of  rennet,  and  the  long 
slow  curing,  with  the  effect  of  the  mold,  all  aid  m  pro- 
curing this  desirable  quality.  American  imitators  of  the 
French  cheese  would  do  well  to  imitate  equally  well  the 
careful  French  methods, 


382  THE  dairyman's  maxual. 

Brie  Cheese,  another  excellent  soft  French  cheese, 
is  made  in  three  or  four  factories  at  least  in  the  United 
States.  One  of  these  is  in  Orange  County,  ]N"ew  York, 
and  the  product  is  equal  to  that  of  the  French  dairies. 
There  are  the  fine,  the  half  cream,  and  the  skim  Brie 
cheeses.  The  fine  is  the  only  kind  made  here.  The  pro- 
cess is  at  first  precisely  like  that  of  the  Xeufchatel  cheese. 
The  new  warm  milk  is  treated  with  rennet  as  soon  as 
drawn,  sufficient  rennet  being  used  to  get  the  curd  in  an 
hour  or  a  little  more.  The  mold  is  about  a  foot  in  diam- 
eter and  three  inches  in  depth.  The  mold  rests  on  a  mat 
of  rushes  placed  on  a  plank  form.  As  soon  as  the  curd 
is  formed  it  is  dipped  out  of  the  vat  with  a  strainer  dish, 
without  breaking  it,  and  the  mold  is  moved  to  a  drain- 
ing table  for  the  whey  to  run  off.  As  soon  as  the  curd 
has  become  firm  enough,  it  is  taken  from  the  mold, 
smoothed  with  a  knife,  and  put  on  the  salting  table,  where 
it  is  sprinkled  with  fine  salt.  The  next  day  it  is  turned 
and  salted  on  the  other  side.  If  the  cheese  gives  way  it 
is  strengthened  by  a  band  of  zinc  placed  around  it  until 
it  becomes  firmer,  and  to  turn  them  easily  they  are  laid 
upon  a  frame  of  osiers  with  another  on  top.  They  are 
turned  daily  from  ten  to  fourteen  days.  They  are  cured 
in  a  dry  airy  room,  where  they  become  covered  with  blue 
mold  with  which  the  red  spores  are  mingled,  and  after  six 
weeks  they  are  ready  for  sale. 

The  best  cheeses  are  refined  in  the  following  manner. 
They  are  packed  in  casks  in  layers  with  oat  straw  be- 
tween them,  in  moist  cellars  or  damp  stone  rooms,  at  a 
temperature  of  not  more  than  fifty-five  to  sixty  degrees, 
where  they  remain  until  they  become  soft,  mellow,  and 
exceedingly  unctuous  in  texture,  and  submit  easily  to  the 
pressure  of  the  finger.  They  are  then  in  the  right  con- 
dition for  consumption,  possessing  a  rich  piquant  flavor 
and  soft  creamy  consistence  much  liked  by  a  certain 
class  of  consumers  of  cheese. 


CHEESE   MAKING.  383 

The  Roquefort  Cheese  is  an  example  of  a  mode  of 
curing  by  which  a  most  exquisite  flayor  is  developed  in  an 
ordinary  curd  by  means  of  fungous  growth  both  within 
and  without  the  cheese.  The  manufacture  has  been  for 
many  years  under  a  sort  of  associated  system  much  simi- 
lar to  our  factory  system,  and  takes  precedence  in  point 
of  time  to  ours  by  a  good  many  years,  the  milk  being 
sold  to  the  company — which  owns  the  caves  where  the  cur- 
ing  is  carried  on — by  some  of  the  farmers,  others  sell  the 
curd,  and  still  others  the  new  cheese  ;  the  curing,  being 
the  most  important  part  of  the  manufacture,  is  carried  on 
by  a  few  individuals  or  companies. 

The  milk  used  is  taken  from  ewes — a  race  of  sheep 
being  bred  in  the  locality  having  extraordinary  milking 
qualities — as  well  as  from  cows  ;  but  the  quality  of  the 
cheese  seems  to  be  quite  independent  of  the  milk  used. 
The  evening's  milk  is  strained  into  a  copper  cauldron 
and  heated  slowly  to  a  point  never  equal  to  boiling  heat, 
but  varying  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  operator 
in  regard  to  the  season,  the  weather,  the  pasture,  and 
the  quality  of  the  milk.  The  richer  the  milk  the  less 
heat  is  applied.  The  heated  milk  is  put  into  widely 
flaring  pots  for  the  cream  to  rise  and  is  skimmed  in  the 
morning.  The  morning's  milk  is  put  directly  into  the 
cauldron  with  the  evening's  milk  and  heated  to  the  same 
temperature  as  the  evening's  milk  was.  The  rennet  is 
then  added  in  the  proportion  of  one  tablespoonf  ul  for  120 
pounds  of  milk — a  little  more  than  fifty  quarts.  The 
curd  is  cut  and  broken  in  the  usual  manner  and  the  whey 
is  separated.  The  whey  is  dipped  out  of  the  vat  with  a 
flat  dish-shaped  dipper,  which  is  pressed  into  the  curd 
until  no  more  can  be  taken  up,  when  the  curd  is  broken 
up  with  the  hands  and  put  into  the  molds. 

The  molds  are  of  glazed  earthenware  of  a  flat  cylindri- 
cal shape,  pierced  with  holes,  and  are  about  eight  and  a 
half  inches  in  diameter  and  three  and  a  half  in  hight,  so 


384  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

as  to  make  a  cheese  of  about  seven  pounds  in  weight  green, 
and  five  to  six  pounds  when  cured.  The  whey  drains  off 
through  tliese  holes  and  from  the  bottom  of  the  mold. 
About  one-third  of  the  depth  of  the  molds  is  filled  in 
with  the  curd  and  this  is  pressed  down.  The  surface  is 
then  lightly  sprinkled  with  a  i^reparation  of  blue  mold 
made  in  this  way:  A  bread  is  made  of  equal  parts  of  flour 
of  wheat  and  barley,  leavened  strongly  with  one  jDart  of 
yeast  for  twenty-three  parts  of  the  bread,  and  one  quart 
of  vinegar.  The  bread  is  then  raised  and  baked  crisply. 
It  is  ke^Dt  in  a  warm  place  until  it  is  covered  with  green 
mold  [Penicillium glaucum)  which  is  suffered  to  spread  all 
through  the  bread,  the  soft  part  of  which  is  then  dried 
and  crushed  to  a  fine  powder.  The  incorporation  of  this 
powder  sows  the  seed  (the  spores)  of  the  mold,  and  this 
spreads  during  the  curing  all  through  the  mass  of  the 
cheese  in  numerous  veins.  When  this  mold  assumes  a 
blue  color  it  is  taken  as  an  indication  that  the  cheese  is 
of  superior  quality.  The  mold  is  thus  filled  with  curd  in 
three  layers,  with  the  fungus  spores  sown  between  them, 
the  last  layer  projecting  considerably  above  the  level  of 
the  mold,  so  that  when  the  pressure  is  applied  the  mold 
may  be  exactly  filled  to  an  even  level. 

A  second  mold  is  filled  in  the  same  manner  and  placed 
upon  the  surface  of  the  first  one  ;  a  leaden  plate  is  then 
laid  upon  the  second  mold  to  furnish  the  pressure,  which  j 
gradually  forces  out  the  whey  and  fills  the  molds  even 
with  the  curd.  The  filled  molds  are  then  placed  on 
benches  having  channels  cut  in  them  to  drain  off  the 
wliey,  and  the  cheeses  remain  until  no  more  whey  escapes 
from  them,  which  is  during  three  or  four  da3's,  being 
turned  twice  daily.  The  air  of  this  apartment  is  kept 
moist  by  means  of  pans  of  hot  water  frequently  renewed. 
When  ready  for  the  change  the  cheeses  are  taken  out  of 
the  molds  and  moved  to  the  drying  house.  This  house 
is  dry  and  airy,  and  the  windows  are  covered  with  wire  or 


CHEESE   MAKING.  385 

cloth  gauze  to  keep  out  flies.  The  tables  are  covered 
with  linen  cloths,  upon  which  the  cheeses  are  laid  to  dry, 
and  are  turned  evening  and  morning.  In  three  days 
they  are  taken  to  the  curing  cellars  or  caves. 

The  village  of  Roquefort  is  built  upon  an  elevated 
plain  2,700  feet  above  the  general  level,  and  is  underlaid 
with  limestone  rock  which  is  honeycombed  with  caves 
and  fissures.  A  constant  current  of  cold  moist  air 
passes  through  these  caves,  and  it  is  in  these  that  the 
curing  cellars  are  made.  No  light  of  day  enters  them, 
and  by  means  of  cross-walls  and  apertures  the  air  cur- 
rents are  directed  through  the  corridors  where  the 
cheeses  are  stored.  At  this  point  the  cheeses  amount  in 
weight  to  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  milk  used.  The  tem- 
perature of  these  caves  ranges  from  forty-five  to  fifty-five 
degrees  and  the  moisture  is  sixty  degrees,  on  a  scale  of 
which  a  hundred  degrees  is  saturation. 

The  first  apartment  in  the  caves  is  the  weighing-room, 
where  green  cheeses  are  received  from  the  farmers  (pa- 
trons), for  the  purpose  of  curing,  by  the  owners  of  the 
caves,  who  purchase  them  and  cure  them  with  their  own 
product.  The  cheeses  are  carefully  tested  and  are  then 
placed  on  the  ground,  which  is  covered  with  straw,  and 
remain  twelve  hours  to  cool  down  to  the  low  temperature 
of  the  caves.  They  are  then  removed  to  the  salting-room. 
A  handful  of  salt  is  spread  over  one  face  of  the  cheese 
and  this  is  placed  on  the  ground  ;  another  is  salted  on 
one  face  and  placed  on  the  first,  and  a  third  is  treated  in 
the  same  way  and  set  upon  the  second  one.  In  twenty- 
four  hours  the  cheeses  are  reversed  and  salted  as  before 
on  the  other  faces.  Forty-eight  hours  afterwards  the 
cheeses  are  well  rubbed  with  a  coarse  cloth  to  make  the 
salt  penetrate  and  are  replaced  in  piles  of  three.  They 
are  then  left  for  two  days,  when  they  are  returned  to  the 
weighing-room  and  are  passed  through  two  operations 
which  are  called  the  '^  raclage'^  (trimming).     The  first 


386 


THE   DAIRYMAN  S   MANUAL. 


of  these  operations  is  to  scrape  off  from  the  cheese  with 
a  knife  a  certain  adhesive  glutinous  matter  which  forms 
upon  it  duriug  the  salting ;  the  second  is  to  remove  a 


thin  slice  of  the  crust  of  the  cheese,  which  is  preserved 
for  sale  as  an  article  of  food  for  poorer  consumers.  This 
sells  at  about  five  cents  per  pound  (figure  89).     The 


CHEESE  MAKIITG. 


387 


cheeses  are  now  sorted  into  three  qualities,  having  so  far 
progressed  in  the  curing  as  to  enable  the  operators  to 
class  them  in  this  way.     After  this  sorting  the  cheeses 


are  returned  to  the  curing  cellars  and  put  up  in  piles  of 
three  as  before,  the  most  solid  on  the  straw-covered  floor 
and  the  softer  ones  on  these.     In  this  state  they  remain 


38S 

for  eight  days.  They  are  then  taken  down  and  laid  out 
singly  without  touching  each  other  (figure  90).  At  this 
stage  they  become  yellowish  or  reddish  m  color.  When 
they  become  covered  with  a  white  mold  an  inch  or  two 
thick  they  undergo  a  second  ^^raclage."  The  moldy 
substance  is  sold  for  feeding  to  pigs.  In  ten  or  twelve 
days  after,  this  operation  is  repeated;  the  finer  the 
cheeses  the  more  quickly  they  are  covered  with  the  mold 
and  prepared  for  it.  In  thirty  or  forty  days  more,  the 
first  made  cheeses  are  ready  for  sale,  as  they  are  not  con- 
sidered suitable  for  long  keeping.  The  later  made  cheeses 
are  selected  for  the  most  thorough  curing.  These  are 
made  in  May  and  June  and  are  not  finally  disposed  of 
until  September  to  December.  These  cheeses  undergo 
the  operation  of  ^^raclage"  several  times  and  develop 
first  a  red  mold  and  finally  a  dense  blue  mold.  During 
the  curing  the  cheeses  lose  twenty-five  per  cent  of  their 
weight.  When  the  curing  is  completed  the  best  cheeses 
are  wrapped  in  tinfoil ;  the  second  quality  are  packed 
naked  in  baskets,  each  cheese  being  surrounded  with  a 
thin  wooden  band.  Only  the  finest,  wrapped  in  tinfoil, 
are  imported  to  this  country,  where  they  retail  for  fifty 
to  sixty  cents  a  pound. 

Cam:embeiit  is  one  of  the  finest  flavored  and  richest 
of  the  small  French  cheeses.  It  was 
first  made  by  a  dairyman  named  Payuel 
in  1791,  soon  became  popular,  and  his 
family  are  to-day  engaged  in  making 
this  same  cheese,  along  with  several 
neighbors,  the  annual  sales  amounting 
^^'     '  to  very  near  two  million  cheeses.     Two 

quarts  of  milk  are  used  to  make  a  cheese,  which  weighs  a 
little  over  three  ounces  when  it  is  cured  and  ready  for 
sale.  The  wholesale  price  is  about  one  dollar  and  eighty 
cents  per  dozen,  and  they  retail  at  twenty  cents  each. 
The  method  of  manufacture  is  as  follows:  The  milk, 


CHEESE   MAKIKG. 


389 


drawn  with  extreme  care  to  preserve  perfect  purity  all 
through  the  feeding  and  care  of  the  cows,  is  taken  at  once 
to  the  dairy,  where  it  is  set  aside  in  jars  for  three  hours. 
The  thin  cream  which  has  risen  is  skimmed  off  and 


used  for  making  an  extremely  delicately- flavored  butter, 
which  sells  by  the  confectioners  in  Paris  at  a  high  price. 
One  hundred  quarts  of  milk  furnish  only  one  pound  of 
butter.     The  milk  is  then  heated  until  a  skin  forms  on 


390 


THE   DAIRYMAN*S   MANUAL. 


the  surface,  and  when  this  begins  to  shrink  or  ^^  crinkle" 
the  rennet  is  added  to  the  milk  at  the  rate  of  one  spoon- 
ful to  twenty  quarts  of  milk.  After  six  hours  the  curd 
is  dipped  out  of  the  jar— wliich  is  of  glazed  earthenware, 
holding  about  three  gallons— into  small,  tin  molds,  which 
are  about  four  and  three-quarter  inches  (twelve  centi- 
meters) in  width  and  hight,  open  at  both  ends,  and 
resting  each  on  a  small  mat  of  rushes  sewed  together 


Fig.  93.— DRYING   ROOM. 

(figure  91).  This  work  is  done,  in  Mons.  Paynel's  dairy, 
in  a  stone  building,  furnished  as  represented  at  figure  92. 
In  two  days  the  curd  becomes  firm  enough  to  be  taken 
from  the  molds  ;  no  pressure  is  used.  Then  they  are 
sprinkled  with  salt,  and  placed  on  the  tables  for  three  or 
four  days.  They  are  next  carried  in  baskets,  upon  tin 
gratings  or  frames  which  fit  the  baskets,  to  the  drying- 
room,  where  the  frames  with  the  cheeses  on  them  are 


CHEESE   MAKIi^G. 


Sdl 


placed  on  the  shelves  (figure  93).  Here  they  are  turned 
every  two  days  for  three  weeks,  and  exposed  to  currents 
of  air,  which  are  made  to  flow  in   various  directions  by 


•=1 

s 


means  of  movable  window  frames,  seen  in  the  engraving. 
The  cheeses  are  thus  aired  in  turn,  until  all  have  been 
equally  exposed  to  the  currents.  They  are  then  removed 
to  a  second  dry  house  {sechoir),  where  they  are  more  ex- 


39^  THE   DAIRYMAX'S   MANUAL. 

posed  to  the  air,  and  in  time  begin  to  sweat  and  become 
moist.  When  this  occurs,  they  are  removed  on  trays  to 
the  finishing  cellar  (cave  de  perfection),  (figure  94),  which 
is  furnished  with  shelves  and  glazed  windows,  the  air 
being  rigidly  excluded.  They  remain  here  twenty  to 
thirty  days,  and  are  turned  every  two 
days  as  before.  After  this  they  are 
finished,  and  appear  as  shown  at  fig- 
ure 95,  being  then  wrapped  in  paper, 
^^'     '  and   i^acked   in   baskets   containing 

ninety  cheeses,  for  shipment  to  market.  They  are  now 
about  four  inches  in  diameter,  and  one  and  one-fourth  in 
hight.  An  unusually  fine  quality  sells  in  Paris  for  twenty- 
five  cents  each.  The  largest  consumption  is  in  that  city, 
which  annually  takes  over  a  million  of  these  cheeses. 
Oke  Hundred  Hints  to  Cheese  Makers,  which  in- 
clude the  wiiole  art  of  conducting  a  factory  successfully, 
are  here  given,  not  for  the  instruction  of  exj^erieuced 
dairymen,  but  rather  as  reminders  of  what  is  so  apt  to  be 
forgotten,  and  as  a  code  of  rules  for  younger  practitioners 
■who  have  not  yet  mastered  all  the  secrets  of  their  art. 
1.  Teach  your  patrons  how  to  j^roduce  milk  of  the  best 
quality  by  asking  them  questions  and  giving  them  advice. 
^.  Print  the  following  ^'Toi  Points  for  the  Instruc- 
tion of  Dairymen,^^  and  furnish  each  of  your  patrons 
with  a  copy  every  three  months. 

3.  Feed  your  cows  on  clean  food   only.     Never  use 
sour  food. 

4.  Be  sure  to  give  only  clean  pure  water. 

5.  Clean  the  cows  before  milking. 

6.  Strain  the  milk  carefully  immediately  after  milking. 

7.  Air   the  milk   well   while   straining,  holding    the 
strainer  above  the  pails. 

8.  Never  use  a  greasy  cloth,  brush  or  utensil. 

9.  Empty  whey  from  the  cans  immediately  on  arriving 
at  home,  and  clean  the  cans  without  delay. 


CHEESE  MAKING.  393 

10.  Never  dog,  or  run,  your  cows. 

11.  Never  use  the  milk  of  a  sick  or  gargety  cow. 

12.  Scour  the  cans  with  a  hard  brush,  rinse  them 
thoroughly  and  air  them  well. 

13.  Examine  the  milk  cans  once  at  least  every  week. 

14.  Look  closely  to  the  opening  of  the  can  into  the 
milk  conductor  and  examine  the  conductor  every  day. 

15.  When  tainted  milk  is  received,  lose  no  time  in 
visiting  the  dairy  and  finding  the  cause  and  removing  it. 

16.  Clean  out  the  water  pans  every  week. 

17.  One  day  in  the  week  have  a  general  examination 
and  cleaning. 

18.  Use  brushes  for  cleaning,  and  keep  cloths  perfectly 
clean  and  sweet. 

19.  Air  the  brushes  and  cloths  thoroughly,  and  dry 
them  once  a  day. 

20.  Milk  in  good  condition  is  set  at  eighty-four  to 
eighty-six  degrees. 

21.  When  milk  is  slightly  acid  set  it  at  ninety  to 
ninety-six  degrees,  according  to  degree  of  acid. 

22.  Use  only  rennet  of  known  strength. 

23.  Never  use  impure  rennet. 

24.  Dilute  the  coloring  to  one  gallon  for  every  vat  of 
milk.     Stir  the  coloring  in  thoroughly. 

25.  Carefully  gauge  the  rennet  to  the  condition  of  the 
milk. 

26.  Early  in  the  season,  when  cows  are  fresh,  more 
i*ennet  is  required  than  later. 

.  27.  The  more  rennet  is  used  the  moister  will  be  the 
cheese. 

28.  The  moister  the  cheese  the  more  cfuickly  it  cures. 

29.  The  first  action  of  rennet  is  to  bring  the  curd  ;  the 
second  is  the  curing  of  the  cheese. 

30.  As  much  rennet  as  will  bring  the  curd  at  eighty- 
six  degrees  in  twenty-five  to  thirty  minutes  will  make  a 
quick  curing  cheese. 


o^J-i  THE    I)AIRYMA>'*6    MAKUAL. 

31.  Forty-five  minutes  sliould  be  allowed  for  bringing 
the  curd  in  summer  and  fall  chesse,  with  good  milk. 

32.  Higher  temperature  than  eighty-six  degrees  pro- 
motes the  action  of  the  rennet. 

33.  Sour  milk  should  have  more  rennet,  proportionate 
to  the  acidity. 

34.  Dilute  the  rennet  to  one  gallon  for  a  vat  of  milk. 

35.  Thorough  stirring  in  of  the  rennet  is  required  to 
cause  even  coagulation. 

36.  Let  the  curd  become  fairly  firm  before  cutting. 

37.  Use  the  horizontal  knife  first,  lengthwise ;  when 
the  whey  has  separated  use  the  perpendicular  knife 
crosswise. 

38.  A  quick  curd  is  to  be  cut  very  fine. 

39.  Cut  quick,  so  as  not  to  jnish  the  curd. 

40.  After  cutting  stir  gently  and  slow. 

41.  Clear  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the  vat  from  adher- 
ing curd. 

42.  Do  not  use  heat  until  fifteen  minutes  after  begin- 
ning to  stir. 

43.  Use  hot  water  for  heating,  lest  you  scorch  the  curd. 

44.  Heat  gradually;  rise  one  degree  in  not  less  than 
four  minutes. 

45.  Heat  a  quick  curd  as  soon  as  it  is  stirred,  and  as 
fast  as  possible. 

46.  Stir  until  the  curd  is  firm. 

47.  Draw  off  the  whey  when  the  hot  iron  shows  fine 
hairs  one-quarter  of  an  inch  long. 

48.  Keej)  dry  curd  at  a  temperature  above  ninety-two 
degrees. 

49.  Let  the  curd  become  solid  only  when  it  is  suffi- 
ciently dry  and  firm. 

50.  Turn  and  pack  close  until  the  curd  is  in  la3^ers 
four  or  five  deep. 

51.  At  this  stage  permit  no  whey  to  remain  on  the 
curd. 


CHEESE   MAKI]S"G.  395 

52.  Test  the   curd   frequently,  by  touch,  smell,  taste 
and  appearance. 

53.  Curd  is  ready  for  cutting  and  salting  when  it  feels 
mellow,  soft  and  unctuous  ; 

54.  When  it  smells  slightly  acid  ; 

55.  When  it  has  a  brisk,  sharp,  but  not  sour,  taste; 

56.  And  when  it  appears  somewhat  fibrous  in  texture 
instead  of  flaky. 

57.  A  porous  open  curd  should  be  soured  more  before 
it  is  cut  and  salted. 

58.  A  moist  or  soft  curd  should  be  cut  earlier. 

59.  Stir  a  soft  moist  curd  some  time  before  adding 
salt. 

60.  A  soft  moist  curd,  and  a  porous  open  one,  should 
both  be  well  aired  by  stirring  before  salting. 

61.  Air  and  stir  curd,  as  a  rule,  five  or  ten  minutes 
after  grinding  before  salting. 

62.  Use  the  salt  which  you  have  proved  to  be  the  best. 

63.  Use  a  small  mill  and  grind  the  salt  extremely  fine. 

64.  April  and  May  cheese  requires  one  and  three-quar- 
ter pounds  of  salt  per  1,000  pounds  of  milk. 

65.  Summer   cheese   requires  two  to  two  and   three- 
quarter  pounds  of  salt  per  1,000  pounds  of  milk. 

GQ.  An  increase  of  salt  is  required  when  the  milk  was 
sour,  or  an  excess  of  rennet  has  been  used. 

67.  Salt  retards  curing  and  corrects  acidity. 

68.  Twenty  to  forty-five  minutes  should  elapse  after 
salting  before  going  to  press. 

69.  Undue  delay  at  this  stage  causes  loss  of  flavor. 

70.  Press  continuously;  at  first  light,  then  gradually 
heavier. 

71.  Clean  the  curd  mill  every  day. 

72.  A  foul  curd  mill  inevitably  produces  bad  flavors. 

73.  Use  loose-fitting  followers  and  canvas  rings. 

74.  Pure  water  only  should  be  used  when  bandaging 
cheese. 


396  THE  dairyman's  makual. 

75.  The  cheese  most  easily  acquires  bad  flavors  at  this 
stage. 

76.  Tlioroughly  clean  curd  sinks  every  day;  air  racks 
at  night. 

77.  Use  racks  with  slats  having  both  edges  beveled. 

78.  Be  sure  to  use  perfectly  clean  cloths  in  the  sink. 
Soak  in  a  strong  alkaline  solution  to  clean   from  grease. 

79.  Scrub  hoops  and  press  tables  frequently;  wash  with 
hot  water  daily. 

80.  Turn  the  cheese  daily. 

81.  Do  not  remove  press  cloths  for  two  weeks. 

82.  Finish  the  cheese  to  a  perfect  shape  before  remov- 
ing it  to  the  curing-room. 

83.  Curing   is   the   result  of   digestive   fermentation; 
seventy  degrees  is  the  most  favorable  temperature  for  it. 

84.  The  higher  the  temperature  the  more  rapid  the 
curing. 

85.  Spring   cheese    requires    seventy    to    seventy-five 
degrees. 

86.  Summer  cheese  requires  sixty-five  to  seventy  de- 
grees only. 

87.  Keep   tliree   accurate    thermometers   in   different 
parts  of  the  curing-room  and  consult  them  frequently. 

88.  Keep  the  curing-room  clean,  the  air  pure,  and  the 
tables  free  from  grease. 

89.  Keep  the  flies  out  of   the   curing-room   by  every 
possible  precaution. 

90.  Turn  the  cheese  on  the  tables  every  day  for  three 
weeks. 

91.  Use  warm  pure  grease  when  the  cheese  is  stripped 
of  the  press  cloths  and  carefully  fill  every  crack  smoothly. 

92.  Grease  summer  cheese  before  boxing  them  ;  use 
scale  boards  before  the  grease  dries. 

93.  Use  two  scale  boards  on  each  end  of  the  cheese. 

94.  Weigh  each  cheese  carefully.    Mark  the  weight  on 
the  inside  of  the  box. 


MILK   DAIRYIl^G.  397 

95.  Use  strong  boxes  to  fit  the  cheese  tight  and  level, 
and  with  close-fitting  covers. 

96.  Avoid  unclean  wagons  or  cars  in  shipping  cheese. 

97.  Avoid  the  very  least  uncleanliness  in  every  detail 
about  the  factory,  especially  in  the  disposal  of  the  whey. 

98.  Keep  an  exact  record  of  each  day's  work. 

99.  Finish  every  clay's  work  completely,  leave  none  of 
it  for  the  next  day. 

100.  Discipline  yourself  to  observe  all  these  rules,  and 
consider  the  breach  of  any  one  a  damage  and  a  loss  to  be 
avoided  by  the  most  scrupulous  exactness. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

MILK    DAIRYING. 

The  production  of  milk  for  sale  is  a  business  of  very 
large  extent.  The  quantity  of  milk  sold  and  used  for 
domestic  purposes  by  others  than  farmers  is  unquestion- 
ably equal  to  one-tenth  as  much  as  that  used  in  butter 
and  cheese  makinj.  With  six  million  farmers  who  pro- 
duce milk  in  our  whole  population,  and  whose  families 
comprise  thirty  million  persons,  there  are  as  many  more 
in  the  United  States  who  use  riiilk.  Estimating  one  quart 
as  the  daily  consumption  of  each  family  of  five  persons, 
there  must  be  at  least  a  million  cows  kept  for  the  pro- 
duction of  milk  for  sale.  This  business  is  always  in- 
creasing with  the  grow^th  of  cities  and  towns  which 
require  systematic  supply.  Moreover,  the  business  is 
somewhat  intricate,  and  it  is  quite  difficult  to  keep  the 
milk  in  good  condition  under  the  unfavorable  methods 
of  transportation  and  distribution,  which  are  very  much 
against  the  interests  of  the  ^iroducer  and  in  favor  of  the 
distributor.  There  is  great  need  for  persons  engaged  in 
this  brajich  of  dairying  to  fully  understand  the  best 


398  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

system  of  producing  milk,  the  methods  of  caring  for  it 
until  it  reaches  the  consumers,  and  of  the  disposal  of  it. 
These  three  considerations  are  of  the  greatest  importance 
and  deserve  the  closest  study  and  most  careful  practice, 
because  the  success  of  the  business  depends  upon  it. 

The  cows  most  desired  for  this  business  are  the  half 
bred  Shorthorns,  or  grade  Holstein-Friesians.  Many 
breeders  of  fine  pure  bred  Holsteins — which  are  large 
milkers  and  whose  milk  is  excellent  for  this  purpose — de- 
vote their  herds  to  the  production  of  milk  for  sale,  find- 
ing a  good  demand  for  the  calves,  which  sell  at  prices 
which  repay  the  cost  of  rearing  them.  Some  Ayi*shire 
breeders  do  the  same  with  equal  profit.  But^  as  a  rule, 
itis  best  to  attend  to  one  thing  at  a  time  in  business,  and 
the  milk  dairyman  will  find  the  best  cows  for  his  use  to 
be  tne  grade  Shorthorns,  Holsteins,  or  Ayrshires — the 
first  being  the  best  cattle  for  beef,  fattening  very  easily 
and  rapidly  when  the  yield  of  milk  is  falling  below  a 
profitable  point,  which  is  from  eight  to  ten  quarts  a  day; 
the  second  making  fair  beef,  and  the  third  being  fairly 
good  beef  cattle  for  local  consumption.  Each  kind  is 
a  good  milking  cow  and  produces  a  heav}',  well-flavored 
and  dense  milk. 

The  feeding  of  cows  for  this  purpose  is  especially 
important,  because  as  competition  reduces  the  price  of 
milk  to  the  lowest  point,  the  feeding  must  be  both 
cheap  and  productive.  A  study  of  the  characters  and 
kinds  of  foods,  and  the  methods  of  growing  the  most 
productive  feeding  crops,  is  of  great  use  in  this  respect, 
and  a  reference  to  preceding  chapters  in  which  these 
subjects  are  treated  will  be  instructive.  The  practice  of 
large  milk  dairymen  who  have  long  experience  in  this 
business  near  the  city  of  New  York,  is  given  in  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  a  milk-barn  and  business  in  which 
200  cows  are  kept.  The  farm  is  located  about  thirty 
miles  from  the  city  of  Xew  York  and  the  owner  procures 


MILK   DAIRYING. 


399 


his  cows  from  Ohio  chiefly,  where  he  can  obtain  good 
grade  Shorthorns.     These  cows   are  kept  in  a  barn   of 


which  figure  96  was  engraved  from  a  drawing  made  by 
the  author  on  a  visit  to  the  farm,     It  is  situated  upon 


400  THE   DAIRY^IAX'S   MANUAL. 

the  side  of  a  hill,  in  an  excavation  of  which  the  base- 
ment stable  is  placed.  The  basement  is  of  stone,  and 
nine  feet  high.  The  barn  is  twenty  feet  high  above  the 
basement,  eighty  feet  long  and  twenty-eight  feet  wide. 
The  yard  is  surrounded  with  a  stone  wall,  and  a  manure 
pit  is  dug  under  the  center  of  the  building,  large  enough, 
to  back  a  wagon  into.  No  manure  is  kept  in  the  yard, 
which  is  thus  always  clean  and  neat;  but  it  is  raked  into 
a  wagon,  which  is  backed  into  the  pit  to  receive  it  every 
morning,  and  carted  away.  Nothing  is  thus  left  to  taint 
the  air  around  the  stable,  and  to  vitiate  the  purity  of  the 
milk.  At  the  left  of  the  yard,  adjoining  the  stable,  is  a 
spring-house,  in  which  the  milk  is  rapidly  cooled,  and 
kept  cool  until  the  time  for  shipment.  Behind  the 
Gpring-house,  and  immediately  at  one  end  of  the  barn,  is 
the  pit  for  storing  brewers'  grains,  of  which  a  jwrtion 
of  the  feed  consists.  These  grains,  purchased  from  the 
breweries,  contain  a  large  portion  of  corn  meal,  which  is 
now  extensively  used  in  brewing,  and  are  both  nutritious 
and  wholesome  food.  It  is  a  mistake  to  su23pose  that 
fresh  brewers' grains  are  unhealthf ul  or  improper  food,  or 
tend  to  produce  any  but  the  best  of  milk.  Grains  are 
simply  crushed  malt  which  has  been  deprived  of  a  part 
of  its  sugar  by  the  process  of  mashing,  and  contain,  when 
in  a  dry  condition,  only  very  little  less  milk-producing 
nutriment  than  the  barley  from  which  they  were  made, 
the  loss,  besides  the  sugar,  being  chiefly  starch  or  carbo- 
naceous matter.  The  daily  ration  given  to  the  cows  upon 
these  milk  farms  is  usually  half  a  bushel  of  grains,  in 
which  there  is  a  considerable  portion  of  corn  meal,  and 
six  to  eight  quarts  of  dry  corn  meal,  with  as  much  hay 
as  they  care  to  eat.  Where  no  grains  are  fed  the  ration 
is  eight  to  twelve  quarts  of  corn  meal  with  hay.  The 
pit  in  which  the  grains  are  stored  is  a  deep  cellar  walled 
with  stone  and  cement  and  covered  with  a  roof.  A  door 
from  th'j  bottom  of  the  j^it  opens  into  the  stable,  and 


MILK    DAIRYING.  401 

permits  the  removal  of  the  grains  as  may  be  needed.  In 
this  pit  several  thousand  bushels  of  grains  can  be  stored, 
and  being  packed  down  closely,  and  kept  from  access  of 
air,  may  be  preserved  in  good  order  for  months.  It  is 
upon  a  similar  plan  to  this  that  farmers  are  now  preserv- 
ing their  corn  fodder  in  a  green  state  in  silos  until  the 
new  crop  comes  in.  The  basement  has  four  doors  and  is 
amply  lighted  and  ventilated.  The  floor  is  divided  in 
the  center  by  a  wide  feed-passage,  upon  each  side  of 
which  are  stanchions  to  hold  the  cows.  There  are  no 
feed  troughs,  but  the  feed  is  placed  upon  the  floor  be- 
fore each  cow.  The  stanchions  are  made  of  oak,  are 
self-fastening  by  means  of  an  iron  loop,  which  is  lifted 
as  the  stanchion  is  closed,  by  its  beveled  end,  and  falls 
over  it,  holding  it  securely.  The  space  between  the 
stanchions  for  the  cow's  neck  is  six  inches.  Each  cow 
has  a  space  of  three  feet,  and  there  are  no  stalls  or  parti- 
tions between  them.  The  floor  upon  which  the  cows 
stand  is  four  and  a  half  feet  wide,  behind  this  is  a  man- 
ure gutter  eighteen  inches  wide  and  six  inches  deep,  and 
behind  the  gutter  a  passage  of  three  feet  and  six  inches  ; 
in  all  giving  a  space  of  fourteen  feet  from  the  center 
of  the  feed  passage  to  the  walls  upon  either  side.  Hay- 
chutes  are  made  in  the  floors,  by  which  hay  is  thrown 
down  into  the  feed-passage.  These  also  serve  for  venti- 
lation, in  connection  with  the  cnpolas  upon  the  roof. 

In  the  summer  the  cows  are  pastured,  but  get  their 
usual  ration  of  corn  meal,  and  when  the  grass  begins  to 
fail  are  fed  green  crops  cut  and  carried  to  the  yard, 
or  into  feeding  lots,  where  they  are  kept.  The  principal 
crop  fed  is  corn  fodder,  grown  in  drills  and  cultivated 
as  well  as  if  planted  for  grain.  The  main  crop  on  these 
farms  is  grass  for  pasture  and  hay,  and  Western  corn  is 
purchased  for  feeding.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  corn 
is  thus  procured  more  cheaply  and  easily  than  it  can  be 
grown  here,  while  hay  is  bulky  to  transport  and  cannot  be 


402  THE  dairymaid's  MA^'UAL. 

bought  profitably.  Coarse  feed  should  always  be  grown 
in  preference  to  grain  food,  as  this  can  be  j>rocured  out- 
side of  the  farm,  while  the  other  cannot. 

Partial  soiling  is  indispensable  for  feeding  the  cows  on 
a  milk  farm,  for  a  regular  supply  of  milk  must  be  had 
eveiT  day,  and  this  can  only  be  kept  up  by  liberal  feed- 
ing of  succulent  fodder*  after  the  grass  fails.  Ensilage 
is  also  a  most  useful  resource,  as  it  provides  succulent 
food  in  winter.  Where  a  satisfactory  supply  of  brewers' 
grains,  glucose  meal,  and  malt  sprouts  can  be  procured 
cheaply  these  will  take  the  place  of  ensilage  and  can  be 
preserved  in  the  same  way.  "With  these  foods  hay  must 
be  fed  as  a  complementary  fodder  and  the  two  kinds  will 
be  sufficient  for  all  purposes  without  ensilage.  As  to  the 
rest,  reference  may  be  made  to  previous  chapters  for 
special  information  in  regard  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
business. 

The  management  of  the  milk  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, and  this  is  the  point  in  the  conduct  of  the  business 
where  most  of  the  losses  and  failures  are  made.  Every 
attention  should  be  given  to  insure  the  most  perfect 
cleanliness,  the  comfort  of  the  cows  in  hot  weather, 
and  to  cooling  the  milk  as  soon  as  it  has  been  drawn 
from  the  cow.  The  last-mentioned  subject  is  worthy  of 
special  consideration.  It  has  been  previously  stated  that 
Aviien  milk  is  cooled  to  a  low  temperature  and  then 
warmed  it  sours  very  quickly.  The  sugar  of  the  milk 
changes  to  lactic  acid  by  an  internal  decomposition  in 
which  the  atoms  merely  change  their  combination  with- 
out any  change  of  elements.  This  souring  can  go  on  in 
sealed  bottles,  when  it  is  supposed  to  be  quite  safe  from 
change,  and  the  dairyman  is  much  disappointed  to  find 
his  agent  complaining  of  the  milk  souring  when  he  felt 
sure  it  was  be^'ond  all  danger ;  the  very  security  he  de- 
pended upon  being*  the  source  from  which  the  unex- 
pected mischief  arises. 


MILK   DAIRYING.  403 

The  cooling  of  the  milk  then  becomes  a  matter  of  par- 
amount importance.  Ice  water  is  too  cold,  and  produces 
the  very  mischief  it  is  intended  to  prevent.  Fifty-five 
degrees  is  low  enough,  and  sixty  will  do  very  well  if  the 
milk  is  not  exposed  to  unusual  risks  in  the  transporta- 
tion. There  are  various  methods  of  cooling  milk.  The 
most  usual  one  is  to  put  the  cans,  as  soon  as  the  milk  has 
been  strained  into  them,  into  a  tank  or  pool  of  cool  water, 
or  into  a  well  from  which  water  is  drawn  for  use  and  is  so 
kept  fresh  and  cool.  An  iron  frame,  in  which  the  cans 
are  placed,  is  lowered  into  the  well  by  an  ordinary  wind- 
lass, and  the  cans  are  kept  there  from  early  morning, 
when  the  cows  are  milked,  until  night,  when  the  milk 
is  shipped.  The  evening's  milk  is  treated  in  the  same 
way,  but  is  not  mixed  with  the  morning's  milk.  Milk 
is  always  shii)ped  in  the  evening,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  the 
early  morning's  delivery.  As  the  cans  often  remain  on 
the  platform  of  the  railroad  depot  for  a  considerable  time 
before  they  are  put  on  the  cars,  it  is  advisable  to  have 
a  dry,  clean  blanket,  conspicuously  marked  with  the 
shipper's  name,  thrown  over  his  cans ;  and  by  making  a 
suitable  arrangement  with  the  conductor  of  the  milk 
train  the  cans  may  also  be  protected  in  the  same  way  in 
the  car,  and  thus  arrive  at  their  destination  several  de- 
grees cooler  than  if  they  had  been  unprotected. 

The  great  point  to  observe  is  not  to  cool  the  milk  too 
low,  and  to  cool  it  as  soon  as  possible  after  it  is  strained, 
airing  it  well  by  pouring  it  through  the  strainer  raised 
above  the  pail.  The  deep-setting  milk  pails,  eight  or 
eight  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  are  convenient  for 
cooling  the  milk  in,  and  if  the  temperature  is  not  lower 
than  fifty-five  degrees  there  will  not  be  much  cream  rise 
during  the  day.  To  prevent  the  cream  rising  the  milk 
should  be  stirred  gently  two  or  three  times  during  the 
day.  A  tank  of  water,  such  as  is  described  in  a  previous 
chapter,  cooled  to  the  right  point  by  ice,  is  very  suitably 


404 


THE   DAIRTMAX'S   MANUAL. 


and  convenient ;  but  a  thermometer  should  be  used  to 
be  sure  the  cooling  is  not  below  the  safe  point. 

The  distribution  of  the  milk  by  dairymen  who  have  a 
route,  or  a  number  of  customers,  may  be  eased  very 
much  by  simple  methods  of  avoiding  diflSculties  Avhich 
cause  much  trouble  at  times.  Souring  of  the  milk  pre- 
maturely is  the  principal  difficulty.  This  may  be  avoided 
by  thorough  cleanliness  in  the  utensils,  which  should  be 
scrubbed  with  a  stiff  brush  and  cold  water;  soap  should 
not  be  used,  but  a  small  quantity  of  a  weak  solution  of 


Fig.  97.— BOX  FOB  MILK   CANS, 


concentrated  lye ;  this  will  remove  all  remnants  of  sour 
milk,  grease,  or  other  impurities  from  the  cans.  Boiling 
water  should  then  be  used,  and,  finally,  clear  cold  water 
to  finish,  after  which  the  pails  and  cans  should  be  in- 
verted on  a  bench  in  the  open  air,  in  a  sunny  airy  place, 
and  tilted  so  that  the  air  can  enter  freely. 

The  routine  of  a  milk  route,  as  has  been  found  sat- 
isfaccory  by  the  author,  is  as  follows.  The  cows  are 
milked  at  five  o'clock  iu  the  morning,  and  the  milk  is 
immediately  strained  into  the  cans ;  twenty-quart  ones 
are  better  than  the  larger  ones,  as  the  milk  keeps  in 


AtlLK   DAIRYING. 


405 


better  condition  in  very  hot  or  very  cold  weather.  In 
very  hot  weather  a  glass  jar  or  bottle  filled  with  pounded 
ice  may  be  hung  in  the  cans  to  keep  the  milk  cool;  in 
cold  weather  the  cans  may  be  put  in  a  box  lined  with 
woolen,  felt,  or  quilting  of  wool,  and  a  hot  brick  in  each 
corner  in  a  sheet-iron  receptacle  will  prevent  freezing  of 
the  milk  (figure  97).  When  the  weather  in  the  hot 
season  is  very  close  and  sultry,  and  there  is  danger  of 
the  milk  souring,  a  teaspoonf ul  of  carbonate  of  soda,  or 
more  as  the  case  may  be  thought  to  need,  may  be  dis- 


Tig.  99. 

solved  in  a  quart  of  the  milk  and  the  solution  poured 
into  the  can. 

It  will  help  the  business  very  much  if  each  customer  is 
given  a  card  on  which  is  printed  a  few  simple  directions 
for  caring  for  the  milk  ;  for  the  most  frequent  complaints 
arise  from  want  of  judgment  in  taking  care  of  the  milk 
and  to  undue  exposure  to  heat  and  impure  air.  These 
directions  should  be  to  the  effect  that  the  milk  should 
be  kept  in  a  perfectly  clean  vessel  and  as  soon  as  received 
should  be  heated  to  nearly  boiling  and  then  kept  in  a 
cool  place. 


406  THE   DAIRYMAX*S   MAKtJAL. 

The  business  of  bottling  milk  for  sale  is  one  that 
should  be  encouraged  as  far  as  possible.  The  milk 
should  be  cooled,  as  above  mentioned,  before  it  is  put 
in  the  bottles,  and  then  sealed  up  tightly,  using  rubber 
rings  under  the  stoppers.  The  Warren  bottle  (figure  98) 
is  the  kind  most  used  and  holds  a  quart.  Another,  very 
: useful  bottle  is  shown  at  figure  99.  As  there  is  a  loss  of 
fully  ten  per  cent  in  measuring  milk  out  of  the  large  cans 
in  single  pints  and  quarts,  this  is  saved  when  bottles  are 
used,  and  the  loss  of  bottles  will  not  be  as  much  as  this. 
Our  method  of  distributing  milk  in  bottles  has  been  to 
pack  them  in  nests  of  two  dozen,  in  boxes,  fi*lling  the 
interstices  with  dry  sawdust,  or  clean  fresh  grass  in  the 
summer.  If  the  boxes  are  shipped  and  pass  through 
several  hands  they  should  be  locked  and  duplicate  keys 
kept,  to  prevent  any  meddling  with  the  milk. 

To  avoid  loss  or  complaints  by  souring  of  the  milk, 
and  to  keep  the  bottles  in  good  condition,  the  plan  fol- 
lowed in  the  author's  dairy  lias  been  to  give  each  cus- 
tomer a  card  with  the  following  directions  uj^on  it: 

'  *  Keep  this  bottle  in  a  cool  place. 

'^  Or,  loosen  the  cover  and  set  the  bottle  in  a  pot  of 
cold  water  and  heat  to  nearly  boiling  ;  then  close  the 
cover  and  set  the  bottle  in  a  clean  closet  as  cool  as  pos- 
sible. 

''  When  the  bottle  is  emptied  rinse  it  out  with  cold 
water  and  leave  it  filled  with  fresh  cold  water  until  taken 
away. " 

When  the  driver  receives  the  emptied  bottles  he  pours 
out  the  water  and  sets  the  bottle  in  a  rack  in  the  wagon. 
The  large  majority  of  consumers  on  a  milk  route  will 
readily  pay  a  cent  a  quart  more  for  milk  put  up  in  this 
way,  and  this  extra  cent,  with  half  a  cent  a  quart  saved 
in  the  measuring,  will  pay  for  a  bottle  in  the  sale  of  six- 
teen quarts.  The  bottles  are  not  only  paid  for  but  the 
extra  labor  of  handling  them  is  also  compensated  for. 


WlKTER  DATEYIKG.  407 

There  have  been  found  some  serious  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  distributing  milk  by  dealers  in  large  towns  and 
cities,  and  milk  producers  have  complained  very  much  of 
loss  of  milk,  excessively  low  price,  and  loss  of  cans.  A  most 
effective  remedy  for  these  evils,  Avhich  reduced  the  profits 
of  the  business  very  much,  has  been  found  in  association 
of  the  producers.  The  dairymen  combine  and  form  an 
Association,  which  makes  contracts  with  the  railroad 
companies,  hires  an  agent  in  the  city  to  receive  and  dis- 
pose of  the  milk  and  to  look  after  the  return  and  ship- 
ment of  the  cans.  On  the  other  side  the  milk  dealers 
have  also  combined  and  formed  what  are  called  '^Milk 
Exchanges."  The  two  associations  naturally  become  an- 
tagonistic, and  when  the  expense  of  delivering  milk  in 
a  large  city  is  greater  than  the  cost  of  producing  it,  there 
seems  to  be  some  necessity  for  this  antagonism  on  the 
part  of  the  producers,  who  find,  in  their  own  associations, 
freedom  from  dictation  and  extortion  and  a  better  service 
in  every  way. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

WINTER   DAIRYING. 

The  author's  special  proclivity  has  been  for  winter 
dairying.  He  has  learned,  from  many  years'  experience, 
that  there  are  several  very  great  advantages  in  pursuing 
a  special  business  in  which  few  persons  are  willing  to 
engage,  because  it  may  be  some  little  way  out  of  their 
regular  line  of  work.  The  most  profit  is  made  from 
special  industries  and  products.  The  reason  is  that  those 
persons  who  have  the  enterprise,  energ}',  and  skill  to 
engage  in  any  unusual  industry  meet  with  less  competi- 
tion than  those  who  employ  themselves  in  any  ordinary 
occupation.     It  is  true  that  they  have  more  difficulties 


408  THE  DAIRYMAN  *S  MANUAL. 

to  encounter  and  overcome,  but  this  is  the  very  reason 
why  they  get  a  better  price  for  their  products  and  better 
pay  for  their  hibor.  The  winter  dairy  is  one  of  the  most 
profitable  of  these  special  industries.  There  are  several 
reasons  for  this.  One  is  that  few  dairymen  or  farmers 
are  making  butter  in  the  winter,  and  consequently  the 
supply  of  the  fresh  article  is  limited.  Another  is  that 
those  persons  who  are  able  to  manage  a  winter  dairy  are 
experienced  and  skillful  and  consequently  produce  a  bet- 
ter quality  of  butter  than  others.  Other  reasons  are  that 
the  management  of  a  dairy  in  the  winter  is  really  easier 
and  more  certain  than  that  of  a  summer  dairy,  because 
it  is  not  so  difficult  to  maintain  tlie  requisite  temperature 
by  the  use  of  heat  as  by  the  use  of  ice;  there  is  no  trouble 
from  premature  souring  of  the  milk;  the  cows  are  in 
better  condition  when  they  are  properly  cared  for;  the 
food  can  be  more  perfectly  regulated,  and  the  whole  of 
the  dairyman's  attention  can  be  given  to  his  special  busi- 
ness without  the  interference  of  the  ordinary  farm  work 
of  the  summer. 

There  are  some  special  requisites  needed  for  this  busi- 
ness in  addition  to  the  unusual  capabilities  of  the  dairyman. 
A  near  market  is  needed,  a  snug  and  well-arranged  stable 
and  yard,  a  properly  constructed  dairy-house,  the  best 
furniture  and  apparatus,  a  herd  of  cows  kept  specially 
for  this  use  and  coming  in  fresh  in  the  right  season,  a 
proper  preparation  for  feeding  both  as  regards  the  crops 
and  the  use  of  them,  and  a  rigid  and  strict  regularity 
and  consistence  in  every  process  and  operation. 

The  dairyman  himself  is  the  first  necessity.  He  must 
be  thoroughly  experienced  in  the  management  of  the 
herd,  and  sufficiently  well  versed  in  the  science  and  prac- 
tice of  his  art  to  be  equal  to  all  emergencies  which  may 
arise  through  the  changeable  weather,  and  the  varying 
temperature,  which  affect  the  cows  as  well  as  the  milk 
and  cream,  and  every  operation  from  the  beginning  to 


WINTER  DAIflYIKG.  409 

tiie  end  of  the  business.  He  must  be  thoughtful,  observ- 
ant, free  from  all  prejudices,  apt  of  perception,  and  quick 
to  take  advantage  of  every  occurrence,  favorable  or  other- 
wise, which  may  arise.  He  must  also  be  a  good  business 
man  and  know  how  to  dispose  of  his  product  in  the 
best  manner,  for  there  is  quite  as  much  in  this  as  in  the 
preparation  of  it.  He  must  be  a  good  judge  of  cows, 
able  to  provide  himself  with  a  first-class  herd,  for  it  costs 
no  more,  and  often  not  so  much,  to  feed  a  good  cow 
as  a  poor  one;  neat,  and  having  a  thorough  sense  of 
cleanliness  ;  a  good  and  careful  milker  ;  regular  in  his 
habits,  and  withal  kind  and  considerate  to  his  cows.  He 
must  be  a  good  farmer,  and,  while  a  winter  dairy  may 
be  operated  without  a  supply  of  roots,  yet  he  should  be 
careful  to  grow  a  crop  of  these  for  his  cows,  because  they 
are  the  balance  weight,  as  it  were,  of  the  feeding,  pre- 
serving uniformity  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
product,  and  producing  a  well-flavored  and  well-colored 
butter.  He  must  also  be  able  to  produce  maximum 
crops  of  whatever  kind  he  grows,  because,  necessarily 
having  high-priced  land  near  a  large  and  good  market, 
it  is  indispensable  for  profit  that  he  must  keep  the  largest 
number  of  cows  upon  the  least  possible  number  of  acres, 
and  therefore  he  must  raise  a  large  supply  of  fodder. 
Green  crops  and  roots,  being  bulky  and  not  purchasable, 
must  be  grown  on  the  farm,  while  grain  food  may  be 
purchased  more  cheaply  than  it  can  be  grown.  A  winter 
dairy  farm  should  have  only  enough  pasture  to  keep  the 
cows  during  their  unproductive  season,  helped  out  by 
some  green  fodder  crops.  The  crops  grown  should  be 
mainly  clover,  fodder  corn,  and  roots.  The  clover  is 
kept  in  the  ground  two  years  only,  when  it  is  turned 
under  and  sown  to  rye,  which  is  cut  for  the  cows  to  help 
out  the  pasture,  and  is  then  turned  down  for  the  fodder 
corn.  Two  crops  of  sweet  corn  are  raised  in  one  season 
— one  of  some  early  variety,  as  Narragansett,  followed  by 


410  THE  DAIRYMAN^S  MAlftAL. 

Evergreen,  and  these  two  will  yield,  or  should  be  made  to 
yield,  at  least  eight  tons  of  cured  fodder,  or  eighteen  tons 
of  ensilage,  per  acre.  The  next  crop  on  the  corn  stub- 
ble will  be  roots,  and  this  crop  is  followed  by  rye  seeded 
with  clover  in  the  spring  and  cut  green  if  necessary  for 
the  cows  in  the  summer.  AVhere  fine  butter  can  be  sold, 
sweet  corn  is  also  readily  salable;  and  as  the  dairyman 
needs  the  fodder,  this  vegetable  can  be  grown  for  market 
with  great  advantage  in  conjunction  with  winter  dairy- 
ing. Musk-melons  are  another  excellent  crop  for  this 
business,  and  some  skillful  growers  make  from  .$300  to 
1500  per  acre  from  it  upon  a  rye  stubble,  leaving  the 
land  clear  for  sowing  rye  again  for  seeding  with  clover  in 
the  spring.  Early  potatoes,  peas,  and  summer  cabbages 
and  turnips  are  also  profitable  crops  for  this  business, 
and  they  leave  the  land  in  time  for  a  crop  of  sweet  corn 
or  millet  for  winter  feeding.  It  is  these  summer  crops, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  fodder  crops  for  winter  use, 
and  which  afford  some  feed  for  the  cows  while  on  the 
restricted  pasture  during  the  summer,  that  present  a  sub- 
ject for  close  study  and  methodical  arrangement  by  the 
winter  dairyman.  Another  important  part  of  the  busi- 
ness is  the  rearing  of  calves  upon  the  sweet  skim  milk, 
warmed  to  a  right  temperature  (eighty  to  ninety  de- 
grees). The  heifer  calves  from  a  herd  of  well  bred  cows, 
or  of  good  grades  served  by  a  pure  bred  Jersey,  Holstein, 
or  Ayrshire  bull,  afford  a  considerable  profit  to  the  dairy- 
man, and  we  know  from  personal  experience  that  the 
progeny  of  a  good  cow  may  be  made  to  bring  in  to  her 
owner  in  the  course  of  her  useful  life  no  less  than  $500 
without  any  difficulty. 

The  cows  for  winter  dairying  should  be  of  some  breed 
which  is  largely  productive  of  butter.  The  best  strains 
of  Ayrshire  cows  are  excellent,  but  w^e  have  found  the 
butter  to  be  too  hard  under  the  heavy  grain  feeding  and 
the  low  temperature,  and  consequently  an  equal  number 


WINTER  DAIRYING.  4ll 

of  pure  Jerseys  of  good  butter  stock  and  some  cross  bred 
Jerseys  and  Ayrshires — whicli  made  the  very  best  cows, 
yielding  from  ten  to  twelve  pounds  of  butter  weekly — 
were  used  in  the  dairy.  When  butter  sells  for  fifty  cents 
a  pound,  it  will  pay  to  get  the  best  cows,  even  at  a  cost 
of  $100  to  $150  each.  It  will  even  pay  when  butter  sells 
for  no  more  than  thirty  or  thirty-five  cents  a  pound  to 
have  cows  that  yield  ten  pounds  of  butter  weekly.  The 
cost  of  feeding  cows  in  the  winter  is  less  than  in  the 
summer;  the  labor  is  less,  and  other  expenses  of  the  dairy 
are  not  so  much  as  in  summer.  A  cow  then  that  yields 
ten  pounds  of  butter  in  winter  at  thirty  cents  a  pound, 
as  compared  with  one  that  yields  seven  pounds  at  twenty 
cents  in  summer,  is  100  per  cent  in  favor  of  the  winter 
dairy,  and  equal  to  $1.50  weekly.  For  the  thirty  or  forty 
weeks  of  the  season  this  difference  amounts  to  forty-five 
or  sixty  dollars,  which  in  one  year  pays  the  difference  in 
the  value  of  the  cow,  leaving  still  a  calf  worth  fifty  dol- 
lars as  a  bonus.  It  is  an  example  of  the  truism  that 
"the  best  always  pays  the  best,"  and  this  is  most  espe- 
cially true  in  dairying,  and  more  than  ever  in  winter 
butter  making. 

The  arrangement  of  the  barn  and  yard  should  be  such 
as  to  reduce  the  labor  as  much  as  possible,  and  the  sys  • 
tem  adopted  by  the  author,  as  described  in  previous 
chapters,  has  been  found  convenient  and  economical  in 
every  respect.  There  are  no  foolish  whims  about  it,  no 
coddling  or  fussing  over  the  cows,  and  nothing  but  what 
is  indispensable  in  a  working  dairy  carried  on  for  profit 
and  not  for  show.  Excessive  warmth  is  not  conducive  to 
robustness,  health  or  profit.  One  may  learn  how  this  is 
himself.  If  a  man's  house  is  kept  closed  up  and  heated 
with  stoves  to  a  temperature  of  eiglity  degrees,  and  his 
food  and  drink  are  all  taken  hot  with  a  vicAV  to  prevent- 
ing the  effects  of  the  cold  and  to  insure  more  comfort, 
the  dwellers  in  that  house  will  become  sick  or  diseased — 


412 

the  impure  air  will  poison  the  blood,  the  warmth  will  re- 
lax the  skiu,  dry  it  and  open  the  pores,  and  the  sligh  test 
draft  will  cause  a  fit  of  shivering  and  induce  dangerous 
colds.  It  is  in  precisely  such  houses  that  sore  throats, 
diphtheria,  scarlet  fever  and  other  diseases  are  so  frequent; 
w^iile  in  the  house  where  the  windows  are  thrown  open 
to  the  breezes,  and  the  cold,  brisk,  pure  air  is  welcomed, 
and  exercise  and  health  give  warmth,  fed  by  the  abun- 
dant oxygen  of  the  fresh  air  coursing  through  the  blood, 
there  is  health  and  vigor  and  comfort.  It  is  the  same  in 
the  dairy.  Pleuro-pneumonia  invades  those  herds  which 
are  kept  in  close,  warm,  unwholesome  stables,  and  the 
dreaded  tuberculosis  finds  there  its  prey;  while  from 
the  wide  airy  stable,  well  ventilated  and  filled  with  pure 
cool  air,  the  well  fed  cows  will  emerge  to  frolic  in  the 
snow  and  enjoy  the  bright  sunshine  and  the  crisp  air. 
Excepting  in  stormy  weather,  the  cows  should  spend  at 
least  three  or  four  hours  every  day  in  the  yard. 

To  preserve  a  healthful  condition,  maintain  the  vital 
warmth,  and  keep  the  skin  in  proper  action,  thorough 
carding  and  brushing  should  not  be  neglected  in  a  winter 
dairy,  and  the  utmost  cleanliness  in  every  respect  should 
be  observed.  Abundant  supplies  of  absorbents,  of  which 
dried  swamp  muck  is  the  best,  and  hard  wood  sawdust 
and  fresh  leaves  next,  and  in  place  of  these  cut  straw  or 
any  other  fine  waste  material,  should  be  procured.  The 
winter  dairy  affords  a  graud  opportunity  for  making 
manure. 

The  feeding  must  be  liberal  and  of  the  best  food.  It 
must  be  regular  in  quality,  quantity,  and  time.  The 
drinking  water  should  always  be  warmed  sufficiently  to 
take  off  the  chill.  Giving  the  cows  ice-cold  water  will 
diminish  the  airgregate  butter  yield  several  pounds  a  week. 

The  management  of  the  milk  and  cream  in  a  winter 
dairy  is  the  most  critical  part  of  the  business.  The  ever- 
varying  temperature  has  to  be  guarded  against  and  regu- 


WINTER   DAIRYING.  413 

lated  so  as  to  be  kept  even  and  up  to  the  point  required 
for  the  largest  quantity  and  the  best  quality  of  the  butter. 
This,  however,  is  by  no  means  so  difficult  as  it  might 
seem,  and  our  experience  goes  to  show  that  it  is  not  so 
troublesome  or  costly  as  to  keep  an  even  temperature 
through  the  summer,  and  avoid  all  those  interferences  of 
the  weather  which  affect  the  cows,  the  milk,  the  cream, 
and  the  churning  in  the  hot  season.  Fuel  is  cheaper 
than  ice,  and  by  proper  construction  and  management  of 
the  dairy -house  very  little  fuel  is  required,  in  some  cases 
none.  There  are  two  methods  of  constructing  and  ar- 
rangi^ig  milk-houses,  and  we  have  used  both  with  very 
satisfactory  results.  In  one  case  a  permanent  spring  is 
required,  and  one  which  does  not  freeze,  but  will  main- 
tain a  regular  temperature  of  forty-five  degrees.  This  is 
brought  in  pipes  laid  three  feet  below  the  surface,  with 
a  cistern  or  vat  sunk  in  the  ground  and  lined  with  ce- 
ment or  brick.  A  tank  of  this  kind  in  the  author's  dairy 
was  lined  with  white  bricks,  and  floored  with  white 
quartz  pebbles  upon  which  the  deep  pails  stood  in  eigh- 
teen inches  of  water  always  flowing  in  at  the  bottom  and 
out  at  the  top.  The  w^ater  came  from  a  bubbling  spring 
in  the  ground,  and  never  varied  more  than  five  degrees 
the  year  round.  A  house  with  double  walls  was  built 
over  the  spring,  and  had  three  apartments — one  for  the 
tank,  one  for  churning  and  washing  utensils  in,  and  an 
upper  one  for  storing  pails,  wrappers,  etc.  The  top  of 
the  tank  was  raised  four  inches  above  the  level  of  the 
cemented  floor,  and  was  covered  in  by  two  falling  doors, 
so  that  in  the  severest  weather  the  temperature  in  the 
tank  did  not  vary  one  degree.  The  furniture  in  this 
room  consisted  solely  of  a  low  bench  for  skimming  the 
pails  upon,  a  rug  to  preserve  the  feet  from  the  coldness 
of  the  floor,  and  an  oaken  table  for  the  butter  until  it 
was  finished  and  for  the  pails  until  they  were  shipped. 
The  other  apartment  had  a  pump  connected  with  the 


414  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

spring,  a  stove  with  a  hot  water  reservoir,  a  low  sink  for 
washing  utensils  in  and  connected  with  a  drain  which 
emptied  into  a  stream  near  by,  a  table,  a  hot  box,  churn, 
and  butter-worker.  The  stove  was  heated  only  upon 
the  days  when  churning  was  done  or  in  very  cold  weather 
to  make  work  in  the  tank-room  more  comfortable.  The 
milk  strained  in  the  barn  was  again  strained  before  it 
was  put  in  the  tank.  The  tank  was  provided  with  cross- 
bars of  galvanized  iron  set  in  the  bricks,  and  making  a- 
number  of  spaces  in  which  the  pails  were  set  so  that  they 
could  not  overturn  when  phmged  to  nearly  their  entire 
depth  in  the  water.  The  cream,  skimmed  every  twenty- 
four  hours,  was  kept  in  the  tank  until  the  evening  before 
it  was  to  be  churned,  when  it  was  put  in  the  hot  box  to 
be  ripened.  This  box  had  double  sides,  bottom,  and 
cover,  and  was  lined  with  sheet  cork  inside  to  retain  the 
heat.  Two  deep  pails  of  hot  water — not  so  hot  as  to 
make  steam — and  closely  covered,  were  put  in  the  box, 
and  the  cream  cans  with  them.  Eighteen  hours  in  this 
box  thus  warmed  with  water  at  one  hundred  and  twenty 
degrees  brought  the  cream  up  to  seventy  degrees,  and 
when  put  into  the  churn,  warmed  by  a  dash  of  hot  water, 
was  never  less  than  sixty-five  degrees  when  the  churning 
began.  The  room  was  heated  to  sixty-five  or  seventy 
degrees  during  the  churning.  The  churn  used  was  the 
rectangular  or  the  Blanchard,  both  kinds  being  used 
during  the  numerous  experiments  made  on  the  action 
and  eSects  of  churning.  The  former  has  no  dasher,  the 
latter  has  a  most  convenient  one,  and  this  is  practically 
all  the  difference  between  them.  Both  make  the  granu- 
lar butter,  if  the  churning  is  stopped  at  the  right  time, 
and  the  butter  can  be  washed  free  from  the  buttermilk 
in  either  of  them. 

The  other  milk-room,  a  basement  cellar,  opening  into 
a  room  heated  by  a  stove,  was  furnished  with  shelves 
arranged  on  three  sides  of  it.     It  was  lighted  and  venti- 


WIKTEK   DAIRYING.  415 

lated  by  a  window  near  the  ceiling  on  the  north  side;  the 
walls  were  of  stone  and  quite  thick — one  foot  above  the 
ground,  where  the  slope  was  highest,  and  four  feet  lower 
down.  It  was  furred  and  lathed  and  plastered  ;  the  floor 
was  cement ;  the  room  oyer  it  was  a  parlor  of  the  house 
and  was  constantly  heated.  Thus  the  temperature  was 
very  uniform,  and  sixty-five  degrees  was  maintained  in  it 
quite  easily  by  opening  the  door  of  the  adjoining  room, 
which  was  used  for  churning  and  washing  utensils.  The 
shelves  were  in  three  tiers  and  made  of  four  strips  one 
and  one-quarter  inches  thick  and  three  wide,  set  on  edge 
so  that  the  air  could  circulate  all  around  the  pans  with- 
out impediment;  to  aid  this  the  strips  were beyeled  on  the 
top  to  an  edge.  The  shelves  were  fourteen  inches  wide 
and  ten  inches  apart;  the  top  shelf  was  covered  with  a 
wide  board  to  prevent  any  dust  from  settling  down  upon 
the  milk.  The  pans  were  of  pressed  tin,  fourteen  inches 
in  diameter  and  four'inches  deep,  and  were  filled  three 
inches  deep  with  milk,  making  eight  quarts.  The  milk, 
after  setting  in  the  usual  way,  was  skimmed  at  the  end  of 
thirty-six  hours  by  floating  off  the  film  of  cream  into  a 
suitable  jar  with  as  small  a  quantity  of  milk  as  possible. 
The  cream,  kept  thirty-six  hours  longer  and  stirred  when 
new  cream  was  put  in  with  it,  was  but  slightly  acid  at 
the  end  of  this  period,  and  was  in  just  the  right  condition 
for  churning.  When  it  was  not  churned  alone  for  ex- 
periment this  cream  was  put  in  the  churn  with  that 
from  the  deep  pails;  being  already  at  a  right  temperature 
and  ripe  for  use. 

All  through  this  work  every  attention  was  paid  to  pre- 
serve perfect  purity  of  the  air  and  cleanliness  of  the  uten- 
sils— a  drop  of  spilled  cream  or  milk  was  at  once  wiped 
and  washed  off  the  floor,  no  smoking  or  chewing  tobacco 
was  permitted  in  or  about  the  milk-houses,  ventilation  was 
given  when  the  air  was  dry  and  pure,  and  moisture  was 
moderated,  when  in  excess  in  damp  and  foggy  weather, 


416 

by  the  use  of  fresh  quick-lime,  which  quickly  absorbed 
the  moisture  and  kept  the  air  pure  and  fresh.  Wood  was 
used  for  fuel  in  the  stoves,  and  the  thermometers  were 
frequently  consulted  to  keep  the  temperature  even  and 
steady.  All  these  precautions  cost  nothing  but  thought 
and  a  little — a  very  little — time,  but  they  go  far  to 
making  the  business  of  winter  dairying  profitable  and 
pleasant. 

Most  of  the  troubles  incident  to  winter  dairying  arise 
from  neglect  to  keep  the  temperature  even,  and  in  over- 
warming  the  cream.  Sometimes  a  farrow  cow  may  do 
much  mischief,  because  her  milk  contains  a  large  pro- 
portion of  albumen,  which  coagulates  on  the  first  appear- 
ance of  acid  in  the  cream  and  forms  white  flakes  which 
cannot  be  separated  from  the  butter.  Overfeeding,  by 
producing  disorder  of  the  udder  and  ropiness  or  thick 
clots  in  the  milk,  which  may  pass  through  the  strainer 
into  the  churn,  also  produces  these  troublesome  white 
specks.  Keeping  the  milk  at  too  low  a  temperature  and 
for  too  long  a  time,  when  there  is  not  enough  of  it  for  a 
churning  two  or  three  times  a  week,  is  also  a  source  of 
trouble.  Then  the  excess  of  acid  curdles  the  milk  in  the 
cream  and  the  whey  separates.  This  neglect  of  the  right 
temperature  then  makes  it  necessary  to  warm  the  cream 
for  churning,  and  this  is  usually  done  by  setting  the  jar 
near  the  stove  or  in  a  pan  of  hot  water,  by  which  a  por- 
tion of  the  cream  is  made  too  warm  and  the  cnrd  becomes 
hardened  in  small  flakes.  The  too  acid  cream  often 
foams  in  the  churn  and  the  butter  does  not  come,  or  if 
the  cream  is  too  cold  the  butter  will  not  gather. 

Temperature  is  the  active  agent  for  good  or  bad  in  win- 
ter dairying,  and  the  neglect  of  it  is  the  cause  of  nearly 
every  trouble  which  arises.  The  strict  observance  of  the 
principles  set  forth  in  treating  of  the  various  subjects 
in  this  and  previous  chapters,  is  essential  to  success  at 
any  time  in  dairy  operations,  but   much  more  in  the 


Wli^-TEE   DAIRYING.  417 

winter.  When  everything  has  gone  right  up  to  this 
jDoint  there  will  be  no  trouble  in  churning  and  the  but- 
ter will  come  in  the  right  form  and  condition  in  a  regu- 
lar time,  which  will  scarcely  exceed  from  twenty  to  thirty 
minutes,  according  to  the  rapidity  of  churning.  Eighty 
turns  a  minute  will  invariably  bring  the  butter  in  the 
winter,  when  everything  is  right,  in  twenty  minutes. 

With  winter  dairying  it  is  possible  to  rear  calves  on 
the  sweet  skimmed  milk,  for  all  the  milk  will  be  sweet 
when  skimmed.  This  is  warmed  up  to  eighty  degrees 
and  given  to  the  calves,  which  are  kept  in  snug,  warm, 
comfortable  pens,  deeply  littered  with  leaves  or  straw  over 
a  deep  bed  of  dry  swamp  muck.  The  calves  are  fed 
until  the  grass  comes  in  the  spring,  when  they  are  weaned; 
the  cow's  business  soon  ends,  the  crops  occupy  all  the 
time.  The  demand  for  fresh  butter  is  met  by  the 
general  supply  of  cheap  creamery  or  farm  dairy  butter; 
and  the  winter  dairyman's  harvest  is  over.  He  is  then 
occupied  in  raising  food  crops  for  another  season,  the 
cows  gambol  in  the  pastures,  or  doze  lazily  under  the 
shady  trees  in  the  wood  lot,  and  there  is  rest  and  peace 
in  the  household,  unknown  where  the  summer  dairy  is 
carried  on  amid  the  plagues  of  flies,  the  heats  and 
drouths  of  the  season,  and  all  the  cares  of  farm  work, 
sowing  and  reaping  and  gathering  into  barns,  and  the 
low  prices  caused  by  excessive  supply. 


418 


CHAPTEE    XXVII. 
THE    FAMILY    DAIRY. 

There  are  probably  more  than  a  million  of  the  six 
million  families  in  this  country  who  do  not  live  upon 
farms  that  keep  one  or  two  cows  for  milk  and  butter. 
The  statistics  given  in  the  agricultural  reports  regarding 
the  number  of  cows  kept  we  think  very  defective  and 
incorrect.  Ten  million  cows  are  far  too  few  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  six  million  farmers,  and  the  very  numer- 
ous class  of  dwellers  in  villages  and  small  towns,  or  upon 
small  plots  too  modest  in  area  to  be  dignified  by  the  name 
of  farms.  These  small  family  dairies  are  often  badly 
managed  and  too  expensively  kept,  because  the  owners 
do  not  know  how  to  avail  themselves  of  all  the  advan- 
tages which  accrue  from  experience  and  skill  in  making 
the  most  of  a  small  plot  of  land,  or  in  feeding  the  best 
cows  to  be  procured,  so  as  to  secure  the  largest  product 
at  the  least  cost.  It  is  in  these  modest  family  dairies 
that  cows  are  subject  to  more  accidents  arising  out  of 
neglect  or  want  of  accurate  knowledge  in  their  manage- 
ment. Hence,  all  through  this  work,  a  prevailing  idea 
has  been  to  incorporate  with  the  fuller  information  de- 
sired by  farmers  and  business  dairymen,  such  plain  and 
simple  facts  as  may  serve  to  guide  the  owner  of  a  family 
dairy  of  a  single  cow  in  the  way  he  should  go  to  secure 
the  most  milk  and  butter  for  the  least  cost  of  money  and 
work. 

The  family  cow  should  be  the  best  that  can  be  afforded. 
A  copious  milker  and  a  good  butter  producer  should  be 
chosen,  because  a  surplus  of  butter  should  .be  packed  away 
in  the  time  of  plenty  to  supply  the  family  through  the 


THE  FAMILY  DAIRY.  419 

period  in  which  the  cow  is  taking  a  rest.  This  time  will  be 
from  two  to  three  months,  and  as  an  ordinary  family  will 
use  from  three  to  four  pounds  of  butter  weekly,  the  cow 
should  be  able  to  produce  at  least  200  pounds  of  butter 
during  her  milking  period,  besides  furnishing  milk  and 
cream  for  the  table.  This  would  make  up  the  required 
yield  to  an  equivalent  of  250  pounds  of  butter  yearly. 
This  is  nearly  a  pound  a  day  for  the  entire  nine  months 
of  the  milking  period.  There  are  not  many  ordinary 
cows  able  to  do  this,  and  yet  there  are  at  least  one  million 
of  them  wanted.  This  suggests  to  the  breeders  of  cows 
an  exceedingly  remunerative  business  in  rearing  grades 
of  Jersey  or  Guernsey  stock  which  will  be  able  to  supply 
the  wants  of  this  large  class  of  small  dairies. 

The  best  cow  for  this  purpose  is  a  cross  bred  of  two 
breeds,  one  capable  of  giving  a  large  quantity  of  milk 
and  the  other  of  making  a  large  quantity  of  butter.  A 
small  cow  is  also  required,  because  of  the  restricted  pas- 
ture and  the  moderate  means  at  command  for  feeding  the 
cow.  The  Ayrshire  and  Jersey  or  Guernsey  breeds  crossed 
supply  this  demand  in  a  more  nearly  perfect  manner  than 
any  others.  A  cross  of  "Dutch  and  Jersey  or  Guernsey 
also  makes  an  excellent  family  cow;  but  as  there  are  not 
enough  of  these  pure  breeds  to  go  around,  the  largest 
part  of  these  family  dairies  must  be  supplied  with  the 
best  of  the  native  cows,  or  good  grades.  Thousands  of 
farmers  who  have  good  native  cows  might  procure  a  good 
bull  of  any  of  these  breeds  and  cross  it  upon  their  cows 
and  rear  calves  for  sale  to  supply  this  large  demand. 

The  stable  for  a  cow  may  be  a  very  simple  affair,  and 
plans  for  such  will  be  found  in  Chapter  IX.  Tf  a  horse  is 
kept  there  should  be  a  separate  entrance  for  the  cow,  or 
one  of  the  animals  should  be  kept  in  a  closed  stall,  so 
there  could  be  no  danger  of  one  injuring  the  other.  If 
a  pig  is  kept  it  should  never  be  permitted  to  become  a 
source  of  ill  odorg  in  the  cow  stable,  and  by  all  meaas  the 


420  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

pig  should  not  be  kept  in  the  manure  yard.  If  a  cow 
needs  to  be  kept  clean  for  the  sake  of  the  sweetness  and 
purity  of  the  milk  and  butter,  a  pig  should  be  kept 
equally  clean  for  the  sake  of  the  meat;  for  a  pig  is  sub- 
ject to  all  the  conditions  in  this  respect  that  a  cow  is,  and 
pure  wholesome  pork  is  as  desirable  as  pure  wholesome 
milk  and  butter  can  be. 

For  preparing  the  feed  for  the  cow  a  small-sized  fod- 
der cutter  should  be  procured,  one  of  the  copper-strip 
roller  kind  is  perhaps  the  most  desirable  and  easily  kept 
in  order,  and  the  fodder  should  be  cut  and  fed  with  the 
meal.  In  the  summer  the  feeding  should  be  pasture 
or  grass  cut  and  carried  to  a  small  yard,  and  the  daily  al- 
lowance of  meal  may  be  given  mixed  with  the  fresh  grass 
or  some  of  the  waste  of  the  garden  and  the  house.  Par- 
ings of  potatoes,  turnips,  pea  pods,  pea  vines,  and  the 
clippings  of  the  la^^n,  will  all  afford  useful  food  for  a 
cow.  In  country  places  where  half  the  roadway  belongs 
to  the  owner  of  the  lot,  and  the  public  have  only  a  right 
of  way  and  passage  over  the  road,  the  roadsides  may 
be  kept  in  clover  and  grass  and  afford  a  large  amount  of 
feeding.  The  author's  residence  comprised  three  acres 
of  land  with  roads  on  three  sides,  in  all  taking  up  nearly 
1,000  feet  in  length  and  twenty-five  in  width  of  useful 
land  not  required  for  the  use  of  the  public.  This  made 
up  more  than  half  an  acre  of  land,  from  which  suflacient , 
grass  and  hay  were  cut  to  feed  a  cow  for  half  the  year. 
The  clippings  of  the  lawn  of  three-quarters  of  an  acre 
furnished  quite  an  equal  quantity  of  the  best  of  fodder, 
young  grass  of  the  most  nutritious  kind.  The  mowing 
of  an  acre  or  more  of  orchard,  the  fodder  of  sweet  corn, 
and  the  spare  apples,  pears,  beets,  peas,  carrots  and  po- 
tatoes from  the  garden,  with  the  grass  and  hay,  all  pro- 
vided sufficient  feeding,  with  the  half  bushel  of  corn 
meal  and  bran  weekly,  to  feed  two  Jersey  cows  which 
yielded  over  twenty  pounds  of  butter  every  week  in  add;- 


THE  FAMILY  DAIRY. 


421 


tion  to  a  liberal  supply  of  milk  and  cream  for  the  fam- 
ily during  the  whole  summer.  Four-fifths  of  this  but- 
ter was  eagerly  bought  by  neighbors  at  fifty  cents  and 
upwards  per  pound,  giving  a  very  handsome  interest 
upon  the  value  of  the  cows. 

The  farm,  a  few  miles  distant,  had  half  a  mile  of  road 
through  it,  which  was  kept  in  good  order,  without  help 
from  the  perfunctory  road  master  and  his  able  assistants, 
in  the  same  way,  and  excepting  the  road  track  was 
plowed,  manured,  and  seeded  with  grass  and  clover  and 
was  mowed  as  regularly  as  the  fields  were.     An  envious 


Fig.  100.  Fig.  101. 

neighbor,  who  wished  to  enforce  his  rights  to  do  as  he 
pleased  on  the  road  and  wiio  drove  maliciously  through 
the  grass,  breaking  and  tearing  it  down,  was  promptly 
prosecuted  and  fined  for  trespass,  and  taught  that  the 
road  was  owned  by  the  owner  of  the  land  adjoining,  and 
the  public  had  only  a  right  of  passage  over  it,  and  only 
on  the  beaten  track,  and  that  the  owner  of  the  land 
could  use  it  for  any  purpose  he  wished  provided  it  did 
not  interfere  with  this  public  easement.  Thus  one  may 
turn  this  valuable  land  to  good  purpose  in  growing  grass 
for  the  family  cow  and  making  it  into  hay  or  cutting 


422  THE  da.iryman's  manual. 

and  feeding  it  in  a  fresh  state.  This  will  be  a  great  help 
in  such  a  dairy,  and  as  an  improvement  upon  the  usual 
roadside  weeds  and  general  waste  of  the  land,  will  com- 
mend itself  to  the  good  sense  and  thrift  of  all  civilized 
and  orderly  people  as  well  as  to  the  sense  of  right  and 
justice. 

In  feeding  cows  upon  lawns  and  small  plots  the  teth- 
ering system  will  be  found  very  convenient.  We  have 
used  the  twa  kinds  of  tethering  pins  shown  in  figures 
100  and  101;  one  has  the  advantage  of  being  forced  into 
the  ground — when  it  is  soft — without  a  mallet,  but  when 
the  ground  is  dry  and  hard  it  is  difficult  to  make  it 
penetrate  ;  the  other  needs  a  mallet  to  drive  it  down,  but 
as  the  mallet  may  be  left  near  the  pin,  there  will  be  no 
inconyenience  in  this  respect.  This  pin  has  a  swivel 
head  which  prevents  twisting  and  entangling  of  the  chain. 
A  swivel  should  always  be  put  into  tethering  chains  to 
prevent  twisting.  These  chains  should  always  be  made 
of  steel  for  strength  and  lightness  ;  for  if  a  cow  in  her 
playful  moods  once  breaks  her  chain,  she  will  always 
try  the  same  trick  by  running  at  full  speed  the  length 
of  her  tether  in  the  effort  to  snap  it  again,  and  will 
generally  succeed  through  one  weak  link.  This  is  a 
troublesome  habit  and  should  be  prevented,  for  with  this 
method  of  feeding  cows  one  may  do  a  great  deal  of  dam- 
age in  her  pla3'f  ulness  if  she  gets  loose  in  a  garden  or  on 
the  lawn  among  ornamental  trees  and  flower  borders. 

The  milk  for  a  family  dairy  will  be  usually  kept  in 
the  cellar  as  the  most  convenient  place.  If  so,  a  part  of 
the  cellar  should  be  divided  off  tightly  to  exclude  dust, 
and  the  remainder  should  be  kept  free  from  all  disagree- 
able odors.  The  whole  cellar  should  be  whitewashed  with 
hot  lime  to  destroy  mold,  and  every  decayed  part  of  the 
floor  should  be  removed.  No  celiar  should  have  a  wooden 
floor,  the  earth  is  better;  but  the  best  is  a  floor  of  cement, 
or  flagstone  laid  in  cement,  both  of  which  are  indestruc- 


THE   FAMILY   DAIRY.  423 

tible  and  clean.  If  there  is  a  spring  conveniently  situ- 
ated, a  small  house  may  be  built  over  it  and  the  water 
used  to  keep  the  milk  cool  in  some  of  the  ways  previously 
described.  An  outside  cellar,  built  in  sloping  ground, 
with  a  basement  in  front  of  it  and  a  building  over  it 
which  can  be  used  for  various  purposes  not  inconsistent 
with  a  milk-house,  will  make  an  excellent  place  for 
keej)ing  milk.  In  default  of  any  other  convenient  ar- 
rangement milli  may  be  kept  in  a  clean  roomy  closet  in 
the  coolest  part  of  the  house,  and  many  a  good  housewife 
makes  excellent  butter  from  milk  kept  in  such  a  place. 
Pure  air  and  regular  temperature,  even  if  it  should  go 
up  to  sixty -five  or  seventy  degrees— provided  the  cream  is 
skimmed  before  the  milk  is  actually  sour  and  never  thick, 
and  the  cream  is  not  left  to  stand  longer  than  until  it 
is  moderately  sour,  and  is  stirred  when  fresh  cream  is 
added— will  secure  good  butter,  although  only  a  closet  in 
the  house  is  all  that  can  be  afforded  to  keep  the  milk  in. 
In  the  winter,  a  closet  in  the  house,  where  the  temper- 
ature is  kept  even  by  the  warmth  of  a  chimney  passing 
through  it,  is  an  excellent  place  for  the  milk  and  cream, 
and  better  than  a  cellar  where  the  temperature  will  go 
down  to  fifty  degrees  or  less,  for  this  is  too  high  and  too 
low  for  the  best  separation  of  the  cream.  AVhen  milk 
is  kept  in  a  cellar  in  the- winter  and  the  cellar  becomes 
too  cold  in  "the  coldest  part  of  the  season,  it  is  not  diffi-  i 
cult  to  raise  the  temperature  to  a  right  point  by  having 
a  block  of  iron  heated  red  hot  in  the  fire,  carried  down 
and  set  upon  a  few  bricks  on  the  floor.  A  sheet-iroii 
pail  filled  with  hot  coals  from  a  wood  fire  will  also  serve 
the  purpose  of  warming  a  cellar.  In  the  coldest  weather 
it  will  hurry  up  the  rising  of  the  cream  if  the  pans  of 
milk  are  set  upon  the  stove  and  warmed  up  to  about 
eighty  degrees  before  being  put  away  for  the  cream  to 
rise.  This  will  bring  up  the  cream  in  twenty-four  hours, 
making  it  thick  and  easily  removed  from  the  milk. 


424 

When  the  clmrning  is  about  to  be  done,  the  cream 
should  be  brought  to  a  temperature  of  sixty  degrees  in 
the  summer,  by  setting  the  jar  in  ice  water  not  cooler 
than  forty-five  degrees.  If  the  thermometer  shows  that 
the  temperature  is  seventy  degrees  in  the  place  where  the 
churning  is  to  be  done,  the  cream  may  be  cooled  to  fifty- 
five  or  fifty-six  degrees,  as  it  will  become  warmed  up  a 
few  degrees  during  the  churning.  In  the  winter  the 
cream  may  be  raised  to  sixty-five  or  even  seventy  de- 
grees, if  the  churning -room  is  as  cool  as  fifty  degrees. 
The  temperature  of  the  place  where  the  churning  is  done 
should  always  be  taken  into  account,  so  that  the  effect  of 
it  upon  the  cream  may  be  equalized. 

In  warming  the  cream  by  means  of  hot  water  care 
must  be  taken  not  to  overheat  any  part  of  the  cream. 
The  cream  is  a  thick  adhesive  fluid  through  which  heat 
circulates  very  slowly,  and  if  the  heat  of  the  water  is  100 
or  120  degrees  the  sour  milk  and  any  albumen  that  may 
be  contained  in  it  will  be  partly  coagulated  and  will  form 
curds  in  the  churn  which  cannot  be  separated  from  the 
butter,  thus  giving  much  trouble,  disappointment  and 
worry  to  the  butter  maker.  The  same  evil  will  happen 
if  the  cream  jar  is  set  near  a  hot  stove,  unless  the  cream 
is  constantly  stirred.  To  avoid  the  necessity  for  warm- 
ing the  cream,  it  is  advisable  in  the  winter  to  skim  the 
cream  as  close  as  possible,  taking  no  more  milk  with  it 
than  can  be  avoided,  and  when  the  cream  is  prepared  for 
the  churn  to  bring  it  to  the  right  temperature  by  stirring 
in,  very  gradually,  water  not  warmer  than  ninety  degrees, 
by  which  the  cream  will  be  thinned  and  warmed  at  the 
same  time.  In  the  summer  the  churn  should  be  cooled 
by  meaus  of  ice  water  before  the  cream  is  turned  in,  and 
in  winter  it  should  be  warmed  by  a  dash  of  hot  water 
and  a  few  turus  to  distribute  the  heat  evenly. 

When  butter  which  is  put  away  for  winter  use  is 
closely  pressed  down  in  the  package  it  should  be  covered 


THE   FAMILY  DAIRY.  4^5 

with  a  wet  cloth  and  tbea  with  salt,  and  the  edges  of 
the  cloth  turned  back  and  pressed  down  closely  to  the 
edge  of  the  jar.  Some  air-tight  covering  is  then  put 
over  the  jar,  which  is  put  away  in  a  cool  place  for  safe 
keeping.  Good  butter,  well  packed  and  kept  in  a  sweet 
place,  will  go  on  improving  in  quality  for  six  months, 
when  it  will  be  in  the  best  condition  for  use. 

The  family  cow  should  be  docile,  easily  handled,  and 
free  from  vices  and  tricks.  Such  a  cow  is  more  easily 
reared  than  purchased.  Hence  it  is  desirable  to  rear 
one's  cow  from  a  calf,  either  by  breeding  the  calf  or  by 
purchasing  one  when  weaned  and  raising  it.  In  this 
way  a  gentle  and  most  serviceable  cow  can  be  procured 
and  trained  to  her  special  life  and  purpose  through  all 
the  gradations  of  calf  and  heifer  up  to  the  point  of  use- 
fulness. In  breeding  cows  it  is  well  to  know  that  the 
ninth  day  after  calving  is  the  surest  time  to  breed  the  cow 
for  the  next  calf;  after  this,  the  cow  will  go  for  six  weeks 
without  becoming  in  breeding  condition,  and  after  this 
the  periods  recur  at  intervals  of  twenty  and  twenty-one 
days.  Thus  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  next  calf  can 
be  arranged  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  owner.  In 
general,  the  cow  which  is  fresh  in  September  or  October 
will  be  the  most  useful  in  a  family  dairy,  as  the  supply 
of  butter  can  be  saved  for  use  in  the  late  summer,  and 
the  troubles  incident  to  dairying  in  the  hottest  months 
of  the  year  are  avoided.  If  two  cows  are  kept  one  should 
come  in  in  March  and  the  other  in  September. 


4:26  TflE  dairyman's  manual. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

DISEASES    OF    COWS. 

''Prevention  is  better  than  cure."  And  in  treating 
of  the  diseases  which  commonly  occur  in  the  dairy  we 
would  emphatically  enforce  this  ancient  adage  a^  the  rule 
of  conduct  in  every  herd,  whether  it  consist  of  one  cow 
or  a  hundred.  The  dairyman  should  be  always  on  his 
guard  to  avoid  causes  of  disease — those  too  common 
errors  of  management  and  feeding  which  disturb  the 
natural  functions  of  the  animal,  and  by  causing  disorder 
of  the  system  produce  what  we  term  disease. 

Cows  are  usually  healthy  and  robust.  The  exceptions 
are  the  high-bred  and  high-fed  animals  kept  by  breeders 
who  force  their  stock  by  every  possible  means  to  undue 
production.  Life  and  vigor  cannot  be  drawn  upon  so 
excessively  and  last  to  the  end  of  the  common  period  of 
usefulness.  The  stock  of  these  is  something  like  a  fixed 
quantity  from  which  one  may  take  small  or  large  drafts  ; 
the  larger  these  are  the  sooner  will  the  supply  be  ex- 
hausted ;  and  this  is  very  much  the  case  with  high-kept 
dairy  stock.  The  common  dairy  cow,  moderately  fed, 
never  pushed  beyond  the  natural  period  and  capability 
for  milking,  lasts  for  twenty  years  without  an  ailment  or 
an  accident,  except  as  the  result  of  some  carelessness 
or  neglect.  On  the  other  hand,  the  high-bred  Jersey 
cow,  valued  at  thousands  of  dollars  because  she  responds 
liberally  to  a  system  of  forcing  and  makes  a  remarkable 
product  of  butter  from  high-feeding,  is  constantly  suffer- 
ing from  garget  or  threatened  with  serious  disease,  and 
finally  dies  of  milk  fever.  And  yd  the  Jersey  cow, 
notwithstanding    her   occasional  want   of    constitution, 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  427 

will  always  be  the  favorite  family  cow  and  the  "  butter- 
machine"  of  the  dairyman.  It  is  therefore  necessary 
that  precautions  should  be  used  both  to  avoid  accidental 
disturbances  with  common  cows  and  to  avert  threatened 
dangers  from  those  which  are  more  subject  to  disorder. 
The  owner  of  a  cow  should  know  when  his  animal  is 
doing  well  and  be  able  to  recognize  at  once  the  iSrst 
approach  of  trouble.  A  healthy  animal  exhibits  certain 
unmistakable  signs  of  its  condition:  the  appetite  is  regu- 
lar and  yigorous,  the  muzzle  is  .moist  and  covered  with 
drops  of  perspiration,  the  eye  is  bright  and  active,  the 
coat  is  smooth,  the  horns  are  moderately  warm,  the  milk 
is  given  in  full  quantity,  .the  respiration  is  easy,  the 
pulse  is  regular,  and  the  process  of  rumination  is  con- 
stant soon  after  eating.  AVhen  an  animal  is  ailing,  the 
first  effect  of  the  disturbance  is  more  or  less  of  fever,  and 
this  is  indicated  by  the  dryness  and  heat  of  the  muzzle, 
uneasy  or  rapid  breathing,  coldness  or  excessive  heat  of 
the  horns,  falling-off  of  the  appetite,  rise  of  temperature 
and  increase  of  the  pulse.  The  frequency  of  the  respira- 
tion and  of  the  pulse  varies  in  different  animals,  but  in 
health  the  respiration  is  always  easy  and  the  pulse  never 
more  than  fifty  in  a  minute  in  adult  cows.  The  pulse 
may  be  felt  most  conveniently  on  the  cheek,  near  the  large, 
flat  muscle  Avhich  closes  the  jaws.  Here  the  sub-maxil- 
lary artery  comes  from  the  inside  and  passes  over  the 
edge  of  the  bone  and  up  the  side  of  the  face  in  front  of 
this  large  muscle.  The  artery  may  be  felt  by  placing 
the  first  and  second  fingers  of  the  right  hand  on  the  left 
jaw  towards  the  inner  side  of  the  bone,  and  the  thumb 
on  the  outside  to  keep  a  steady  pressure.  The  brachial 
artery  may  be  felt  on  the  inner  side  of  the  fore-arm, 
below  the  shoulder,  level  with  the  elbow  joint,  and  in 
advance  of  it.  A  little  practice  with  moderate  pressure 
of  the  fingers  will  soon  fix  the  places  where  these  arteries 
can  be  found  and  the  pulse  examined. 


428  THE   dairyman's   manual. 

The  next  usual  symptom  of  disorder  is  the  suspension 
of  rumination,  or  'Moss  of  cud."  This  is  generally  ac- 
companied by  roughness  of  the  skin,  dullness  of  the 
eyes,  and  apj^arent  lassitude,  tlie  cow  moping  and  stand- 
ing apart  with  the  head  down  and  occasionally  grinding 
the  teeth.  When  these  symptoms  are  noticed  it  is  time 
to  be  on  the  alert  to  discover  the  cause  of  the  trouble 
and  apply  an  immediate  remedy.  Usually  some  circum- 
stance may  be  recalled  which  will  account  for  the  dis- 
turbance— some  over-feeding,  some  exposure,  or  neglect, 
or  even  some  change  of  feeding,  which  is  often  sufficient 
to  disarrange  the  system  and  cause  sickness.  Neglect  of 
timely  precautions  may  in  such  cases  bring  on  serious 
disease  of  the  blood  and  a  general  inflammatory  condition 
which  will  subject  the  animal  to  danger  of  infection  by 
means  of  germs  of  disease  which  are  always  present  in 
the  atmosphere,  waiting  for  a  favorable  opportunity  of 
becoming  sown  in  a  suitable  soil,  so  to  speak,  where  all 
the  requisite  conditions  for  their  immediate  growth  may 
be  presented.  The  first  approaches  of  disease  are  usually 
silent  and  inconspicuous.  Some  little  changes  may  be 
noted,  but  these  seem  so  insignificant  that  they  are  passed 
over  without  any  serious  thought,  and  are  forgotten. 
Here  is  the  greatest  mistake  that  is  made.  It  is  far 
easier  to  prevent  mischief  than  to  cure  or  avert  it  when 
it  has  arrived.  The  lower  animals,  witli  dull  nervous 
systems,  patient  and  uncomplaining,  exhibit  no  signals 
of  distress  until  the  strength  fails  and  disease  has  taken 
a  strong  hold  upon  them.  In  many  cases  remedies  are 
then  too  late  which  at  the  outset  might  have  successfully 
prevented  a  serious  attack. 

A  dose  of  some  simple  purgative  medicine,  as  a  pint  or 
a  quart  of  raw  linseed  oil  when  the  digestive  organs  are 
disturbed,  or  a  pound  or  twenty-four  ounces  of  Epsom 
salts  when  there  are  inflammatory  or  febrile  symptoms, 
or  one-ounce  doses  of  hyposulpliite  of   soda  when  the 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  429 

blood  is  out  of  order,  will  usually  quickly  restore  the 
animal  to  better  health.  The  exercise  of  precaution, 
however,  in  feeding,  watering,  securing  pure  air,  and 
protection  against  the  rigors  of  the  weather,  such  as  have 
been  suggested  in  previous  chapters,  will  generally  be 
sufficient  to  keep  a  herd  in  such  good  kealth  that  an 
occasional  dose  of  the  simple  medicines  above  mentioned 
will  be  all  that  may  be  needed,  except  on  unusual  occa- 
sions, when,  from  unforeseen  circumstances,  more  serious 
disorders  may  invade  the  herd.  In  the  dairy  these  dis- 
orders will  be  chiefly  those  which  appertain  to  calving 
and  which  occur  immediately  before  or  subsequent  to 
this  interesting  event,  which  consequently  calls  for  more 
than  usual  foresight  and  preparatory  precautions. 

Usually  the  common  diseases  of  this  class  are  inflam- 
matory in  their  character,  and  are  due  to  a  too  high  or  a 
too  low  condition ;  in  either  case  the  natural  functions 
are  interfered  with,  and  a  disturbance  of  the  circula- 
tion results.  They  are  usually  serious,  and  some,  as 
milk  fever,  are  often  fatal,  consequently  the  utmost  pre- 
cautions should  be  taken  for  a  month  or  two  before  the 
period  of  calving  arrives.  During  this  time  the  feeding 
should  be  simple  but  nutritious  ;  no  stimulating  food 
should  be  given  ;  grass  or  green  fodder  in  the  summer 
and  good  hay  and  roots  in  the  winter,  but  no  grain  food, 
should  be  the  fare,  and  every  possible  care  should  be 
exercised  to  avoid  fatigue,  nervous  excitement,  worry 
or  violent  usage.  The  management  of  the  cow  pre- 
vious to  calving  should  be  such  as  is  recommended  in 
Chapter  XIII.  It  is  to  the  observance  of  this  careful 
management  that  the  author  attributes  his  exemption 
from  all  trouble  in  his  dairy  for  over  twenty  years,  in 
which  he  has  never  had  a  sick  cow,  or  an  abnormal  calv- 
ing, or  lost  a  calf,  or  had  any  animal  injured  in  the 
slightest  degree. 


430  THE  DAIKYMAN'S  MANUAL. 

ABORTION. 

This  disease  is  one  of  the  most  injurious  of  those 
which  affect  dairy  cattle.  It  has  heen  considered  a  mys- 
terious disorder  and  much  investigation  has  been  devoted 
to  its  causes  and  progress  without  any  very  certain  result 
until  the  present  time.  It  is  called  abortion  in  the 
cow  when  the  foetus  is  expelled  before  the  seventh  month 
and  before  it  has  been  sufficiently  developed  to  maintain 
an  existence  separately  from  the  dam.  After  this  period 
the  expulsion  of  the  foetus,  whether  it  be  living  or  dead, 
is  called  premature  birth.  This  period  has  been  fixed 
by  veterinarians,  as  well  as  by  physicians,  as  the  connect- 
ing limit  between  these  two  forms  of  accidents  of  preg- 
nane}^, because  after  the  200th  day  the  foetus  becomes 
capable  of  a  separate  existence,  and  may  live  and  thrive, 
under  exceptionally  favorable  circumstances,  although  at 
first  weakly  or  immature. 

Premature  birth,  too,  can  scarcely  be  considered  a 
disease,  but  rather  in  the  light  of  an  accidental  occur- 
rence due  to  various  causes,  while  abortion  is  undoubt- 
edly a  disease  originating  in  certain  disordered  conditions 
of  the  animal,  which  can  be  traced  to  a  specific  cause  or 
result  of  causes.  It  may  be  classed  as  of  two  kinds, 
sporadic  or  enzootic,  and  epizootic,  infectious,  or  conta- 
gious. The  former  maybe  due  to  several  causes,  ex- 
ternal and  internal;  the  latter  is  always  due  to  infection 
by  a  specific  germ  introduced  into  the  system  and  devel- 
oped by  favorable  circumstances. 

Sporadic  or  Accidental  Abortion. — The  causes 
of  accidental  abortion  are  very  numerous,  acting  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  and  produce  their  effects  in  an 
evident  or  obscure  manner. 

The  External  Causes  are  physical  injuries  arising 
from  falls,  blows,  severe  exercise,  as  being  chased  by  dogs 
07  other  cattle,  continued  bad  weather  and  exposure  to 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  431 

cold  rains  which  are  especially  injurious,  squeezing  or 
crowding  through  narrow  doorways,  nervous  excitement, 
fear,  and  offensive  odors.  The  results  of  these  injuries 
are  mechanical,  and  are  so  obvious  to  an  intelligent 
reader  that  no  comment  upon  them  is  required. 

The  Internal  Causes  arise  from  bad  or  unwholesome 
feeding,  contributing  disorders  of  other  organs  and 
febrile  diseases,  and  least  frequently  uterine  diseases 
which  result  in  the  death  of  the  foetus.  Unwholesome 
feeding,  including  watering,  very  frequently  produces 
abortion.  The  use  of  frozen  roots  which  chill  the 
stomach  and  so  reduce  the  temperature  of  the  adjacent 
uterus  as  to  kill  the  foetus  ;  the  use  of  ice-cold  water, 
which  has  the  same  effect;  feeding  cotton-seed  meal, 
smutty  corn  fodder,  or  ergoted  grasses  or  straw,  or  rye 
bran  from  ergoted  grain;  innutritions  food,  or  excessively 
rich  food,  the  former  starving  the  animal,  the  latter  caus- 
ing too  great  plethora.  All  these  and  other  closely  related 
circumstances  are  most  effective  causes  of  this  disorder. 
Acute  fevers  so  increase  the  internal  heat  of  the  dam 
as  to  destroy  the  foetus.  Pleuro-xmeumonia  causes  its 
death  by  affecting  the  condition  of  the  blood  ;  anaemia, 
anasarca,  tuberculosis,  anthrax,  apththge,  and  other  seri- 
ous diseases  of  tlie  dam,  lowering  her  vital  forces,  have  the 
same  fatal  effect  upon  the  immature  young  creature  in 
ntero.  The  only  refuge  from  these  forms  of  this  disease 
is  prevention. 

Epizootic  or  Contagious  Abortion  is  a  disorder  of 
very  frequent  occurrence  which  has  caused  much  dispute 
and  discussion  among  the  veterinary  profession.  Pro- 
fessor Saint  Cyr,  the  eminent  French  veterinarian,  after  a 
long  and  exhaustive  discussion  concludes  that  the  prin- 
cipal if  not  the  only  cause  of  this  form  of  the  disease  is 
contagion;  but  he  has  not  as  yet  been  able  to  explain  or 
describe  the  nature  of  the  medium  by  which  the  disease 
is  communicated  or  spread,  or  its  mode  of  action  in  the 


432  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

infected  cows.  Without  entering  into  any  discussion  of 
the  apparent  causes  of  this  disease — which  enters  into  a 
herd  without  previous  notice  or  any  premonition  of  dis- 
aster, and  goes  through  it,  causing  one  cow  after  another 
to  lose  her  calf  after  periods  of  gestation  of  three  to 
seven  or  eight  months,  and  which,  having  desolated  the 
farm  for  this  year,  reappears  in  the  same  herd  or  an  en- 
tirely new  one,  if  the  same  stable  and  yards  are  used — it 
will  be  sufficient  to  mention  that  none  or  all  of  the  al- 
leged causes  of  this  disease  will  explain  satisfactorily  any 
hypothesis  or  belief  that  any  other  conditions  than  the 
introduction  of  a  specific  germ  into  an  animal,  or  a  herd 
or  stable,  will  reasonably  account  for  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances under  which  this  malady  makes  its  sudden 
appearance  in  localities  where  it  has  never  been  heard  of 
previously.     These  circumstances  are  as  follows  : 

1.  Abortion  usually  follows  the  introduction  into  a 
stable  or  herd  of  some  strange  cow  which  is  in  calf  and 
which  loses  its  calf  without  any  apparent  cause  or  prov- 
ocation, Then  one  of  the  other  cows  loses  its  calf,  a 
second  and  a  third  follow,  and  the  disease  goes  through 
the  whole  herd.  In  a  case  known  to  the  author  of  a 
herd  of  seventy-two  valuable  Jersey  cows,  only  seven  live 
calves  were  born  in  one  year,  and  these  were  of  cows 
which  had  nearly  completed  their  terms  of  gestation  be- 

*  fore  the  disease  appeared.  This  infection  followed  the 
introduction  of  a  cow  purchased  at  a  public  sale  in  Xew 
York  City,  and  this  cow  had  lost  her  calf  by  abortion 
the  previous  year. 

2.  It  is  usually  the  cows  nearest  to  the  newly  intro- 
duced one  which  become  affected,  and  the  disease  spreads 
by  the  closest  contact. 

3.  When  cows  from  healthy  herds  are  brought  into  in- 
fected herds  or  stables,  those  of  them  calving  soon  after 
pass  through  their  period  safely,  but  those  whose  time  is 

•  more  distant  usually  lose  their  calves.     It  thus  appears 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  433 

that  a  period  of  incubation  is  required  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  disease. 

4.  When  by  accident  infected  stables  have  been  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  .and  with  the  infected  herd  have  been 
totally  consumed,  the  disease  has  disappeared  from  the 
farm. 

5=  Abortion  usually  occurs  during  the  fourth  month, 
although  it  may  happen  at  any  period  of  gestation. 

6.  It  appears  to  be  a  rale  that  the  time  of  occurrence 
of  this  disease  arrives  later  in  the  period  of  gestation  of 
the  infected  cows  in  succeeding  years ;  thus  a  cow  which 
loses  her  calf  one  year  in  the  fourth  month,  will  not 
abort  the  next  year  until  the  fifth,  and  the  year  after 
until  the  sixth,  and  so  on  until  the  full  time  be  passed, 
when  the  calf  will  appear  to  be  full  grown  and  healthy, 
but  after  a  short  time  will  be  stricken  with  disease  and 
perish  apparently  of  inanition  and  weakness. 

7.  The  condition  of  the  cow  does  not  seem  to  have  any 
effect  upon  the  progress  of  the  disease,  and  heifers  with 
their  first  calf  are  as  likely  to  be  affected  as  older  cows. 

8.  A  cow  under  the  influence  of  the  infection  gives  no 
indication  of  suffering — eats,  drinks,  and  milks  as  usual. 
But  by  close  observation  a  changed  appearance  of  the 
visible  organs  is  to  be  noticed,  a  looseness  of  the  parts 
and  sinking  of  the  muscles  which  always  appear  before 
calving  become  plainly  apparent,  and  heifers  ^^ spring" 
and  exhibit  the  full  udder  as  if  about  to  calve  naturally. 
One  who  has  become  experienced  in  the  behavior  of  the 
diseased  cows  knows  beforehand  that  the  animal  in- 
fected is  about  to  abort. 

9.  The  expulsion  of  the  foetus  is  so  easily  and  quickly 
accomplished,  and  the  cow  shows  so  little  concern  or 
injury,  that  unless  the  owner  is  forewarned  the  accident 
might  pass  without  notice,  excepting  when  the  foetal 
membranes  are  retained ;  these  being  then  removed  with 
much  difficulty,  and  on  their  appearance  they  show  in- 


iU 

dications  of  being  diseased  at  the  points  of  adherence 
to  the  walls  of  the  uterus,  commonly  known  as  the 
cotyledons. 

10.  A  cow  which  has  once  lost  her  calf  will  usually 
fail  to  breed,  but  become  a  '*  buller,"  and  be  very 
troublesome  or  useless,  and  if  she  be  bred  successfully 
the  calf  will  almost  invariably  be  lost  as  the  previous  one 
was. 

11.  When  a  cow  which  has  lost  her  calf  is  kept  from 
breeding  for  a  considerable  time  there  is  a  fair  chance 
that  she  may  be  bred  successfully;  several  months,  or  a 
whole  year,  should  elapse. 

12.  When  the  calf  survives  a  premature  birth  it  is  in- 
variably weak  and  unthrifty;  usually  it  dies  after  a  few 
hours  or  days,  bellowing  incessantly,  as  if  in  suffering, 
and  if  it  should  survive  it  will  never  be  j^rofitable  to  its 
owner. 

These  circumstances  all  tend  to  show  that  the  disease 
is  contagious  and  affects  only  one  organ — viz.,  the  uterus — 
of  the  cow;  the  animal  otherwise  appearing  in  usual  health, 
unless  through  the  persistent  retention  of  the  foetal  en- 
velopes, which  by  their  decomposition  and  'absorption 
may  produce  blood  poisoning,  the  animal  succumbs  to 
the  ultimate  and  secondary  results  of  the  disease.  Re- 
cent careful  investigations  undertaken  by  the  French 
Minister  of  Agriculture,  through  Prof.  E.  Nocard  of  the 
Alfort  Veterinary  College,  have  confirmed  the  belief  in 
the  contagiousness  of  the  disease  and  its  communication 
by  a  special  germ  which  exists  in  diseased  organs,  and 
whose  presence  in  hitherto  healthy  animals  invariably 
produces  all  the  results  which  happen  through  infection. 

Prof.  Nocard,  as  the  results  of  his  investigation,  con- 
cludes as  follows  : 

1.  In  cows  that  have  aborted,  even  in  those  that  were 
pregnant  for  the  first  time,  there  exists  in  the  interior  of 
the  uterus,  between  the  mucous  lining  and  the  mem- 


DISEASEo   OF   COWS.  435 

branes  covering  the  foetus,  especially  iu  the  crypts  of  the 
cotyledons,  various  microscopic  organisms  which  are 
not  to  be  found  in  pregnant  cows,  or  in  cows  that  have 
already  calved,  belonging  to  districts  in  which  abortion 
does  not  prevail. 

2.  These  microscopic  organisms  do  not  appear  to 
exert  any  injurious  action  upon  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  uterus,  whether  during  the  period  of  the  gestation 
destined  to  be  suddenly  terminated,  or  after  abortion 
has  taken  place. 

3.  The  recurrence  of  abortion  in  the  same  subject  is 
satisfactorily  accounted  for,  if  we  admit  the  pathogenic 
influence  of  the  microbes,  by  their  remaining  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  uterus  up  to  the  time  when  they  can  act  as 
before  upon  a  new  foetus,  or  upon  its  envelopes. 

4.  In  like  manner,  cases  of  barrenness,  following  abor- 
tion, maybe  explained  by  the  acid  reaction  of  the  uterine 
fluid  in  which  the  microbes  maintain  themselves  ;  the 
spermatozoa  cannot  retain  their  vitality  except  in  an 
alkaline  medium. 

The  careful  study  of  the  foregoing  facts  will  easily 
enable  those  concerned  to  take  the  needed  precautions 
for  avoiding  the  occurrence  of  the  simpler  accidental 
form  of  this  injurious  disease,  as  well  as  of  that  of  the 
still  more  serious  or  ruinous  contagious  form  of  it.  Care 
to  prevent  accidents  which  so  often  occur  through  neg- 
lect or  oversight ;  to  avoid  the  use  of  unwholesome  food, 
and  exposure  to  the  vigors  of  the  season,  in  the  one  case, 
and  in  the  other  to  exercise  the  strictest  precautions  in 
bringing  in  strange  cattle  to  the  herd  ;  to  put  the  new- 
comers into  a  close  quarantine  until  their  healthfulness 
is  proved  will  prevent  the  disease,  and  to  exact  from  the 
sellers  a  full  guarantee  of  health  before  purchase  and 
removal  of  any  animal  will  prevent  the  serious  losses 
which  occur  to  the  purchaser,  if  it  does  not  evade  the 
danger.     Just  here  it  may  be  usefully  suggested  that  a? 


436  THE    DAIIiTMAX'S   MAl^UAL. 

losses  by  contagious  disease  among  valuable  dairy  herds 
have  been  very  numerous  and  exceedingly  costly  of  late, 
purchasers  of  valuable  cattle  should  always  exact  of  the 
sellers  security  against  this  risk,  and  should  insist  upon  a 
full  warranty  of  soundness  and  freedom  from  disease, 
with  acknowledged  hability  for  any  damage  that  might 
happen  from  any  breach  of  such  warranty.  With  such 
precautions  the  onus  and  risk  would  fall  where  it  natu- 
rally belongs,  viz.,  upon  the  seller,  who  would  then  be 
very  careful  that  the  animals  he  disposes  of  are  free  from 
fault  and  would  be  most  anxious  to  keep  his  stock  in  a 
perfectly  healthful  condition. 

When  abortion  appears  in  any  herd,  immediate  treat- 
ment should  be  adopted.  The  cow  should  be  instantly 
removed  from  the  herd  upon  the  first  indication  that 
she  is  about  to  lose  her  calf  or  has  lost  it,  and  kept  iso- 
lated in  a  distant  part  of  the  farm,  where  she  should  be 
disinfected  within  and  without  in  a  thorough  manner. 
Her  treatment  there  should  be  as  follows  :  The  stable 
should  be  kept  filled  with  vapor  of  carbolic  acid,  and  so- 
lutions of  sulphate  of  copper  should  be  liberally  spread 
over  the  floor  and  painted  or  sprayed  upon  the  walls  and 
furniture.  Injections  of  solution  of  one  dram  of  hypo- 
sulphite of  soda  in  a  quart  of  warm  w^ater  should  be 
made  into  the  uterus,  three  times  daily.  Every  evacua- 
tion of  the  cow  should  be  covered  with  fresh  made  car- 
bolate  of  lime  or  solution  of  sulphate  of  copper,  and  the 
cow  should  be  given  daily  one  ounce  of  hyposulphite  of 
soda  dissolved  and  mixed  with  some  food. 

The  stable  itself  may  also  be  disinfected  by  burning  in 
it  a  pound  of  sulphur  and  keeping  the  doors  and  win- 
dows tightly  closed  while  the  sulphurous  acid  fumes  are 
distributed  in  every  pnrt  of  it.  Of  course  no  cows  are  t ) 
remain  during  the  disinfection.  The  solution  of  sulphate 
of  copper  with  which  the  floor,  stalls  and  furniture  is  to  be 
drenched  is  made  by  dissolving  four  ounces  to  the  gallon 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  437 

of  water,  and  carbolic  acid  should  be  kept  exposed  abund- 
antly in  the  stable  by  spraying  it  on  the  floor.     Each 
cow  should  receive  the  hyposulphite  of  soda,  given  daily 
in  the  food  for  two  or  tliree  weeks,  and  the  disinfecting 
process  should  not  be  discontinued  during  this  interval. 
Medicine  may  be  available  if  given  in  the  first  staoes 
of  the  disease.     When  the  condition  of  the  animal  is  de- 
pressed tonics  are  called  for.   The  ordinary  tonic  mixture 
of  sulphate  of  iron,  gentian  and  ginger  in  equal  quantities, 
one  dram  of  each  for  one  dose,  has  been  given  with  benefit. 
Tincture  of  Peruvian  bark,  made  by  infusing  four  ounces 
of  the  bark  in  a  quart  of  whiskey,  is  also  useful,  given  in 
four-ounce  doses  three  times  daily.     Antiseptics  are  use- 
ful in  the  first  stage  of  the  infectious  form  of  the  disease. 
One-haif-ounce  doses  of  chlorate  of  potassa,  or  one-ounce 
doses  of    hyposulphite  of  soda,   given  daily  until  the 
symptoms  disappear,  have  been  given  with  benefit;  as 
have  four-dram  doses  of  asafcetida,  given  twice  daily  for 
three  days.     A  pint  of  infusion  of  black  haw  {viburnum 
prunifolium),  or  an  equivalent  of  the  tincture,  has  been 
found  exceedingly  effective  in  arresting  the  disease  when 
in  its  early  stages,  and  when  given  on  the  first  premoni- 
tion of  the   disorder.     This   infusion   was  in   common 
use  on  Southern  plantations  in  time  of   slavery,  when 
the  negroes  had  used  cotton  root  for  procuring  abortion, 
and  was  found  most  eff active  in  averting  the  effects  of  the 
root.     This  fact  has  a  double  significance  in  this  regard. 
Epizootic  abortion  has  been  known  from  the  earliest 
times.  .  An  old  work  upon  Animal  Plagues,  printed  200 
years   ago,  describes   several   outbreaks   of  this   disease 
which  occurred  previous  to  a.  d.  800.    A  very  destructive 
outbreak  happened  in  Germany  in  1777  among  cows  and 
pigs ;  another  in  France  seven  years  later  affected  most 
of  the  cows  and  mures.     Medical  works  mention  a  great 
many  instances  of  a  similar  kind,  but  without  specifying 
any  particular  cause  beyond  the  supposed  influence  of 


438 


THE   i)AlRTMAX  S   MANUAL. 


unfavorable  weather  and  the  presence  of  abundant  ergot 
in  the  grain  and  grass  crops. 


DISEASES   OF   THE    [^TAMMARY    GLANDS. 

Mammitis  or  Garget  is  one  of  the  raost  frequent  and 

I  troublesome  diseases  in  the  dairy.     "  Caked  bag"  is  the 

,  dread  of  the  dairyman,  who  finds  his  supply  of  milk  sud- 

'  denly  cut  off  and  a  sick  cow  upon  his  hands  requiring 

care  and  treatment.     The  technical  name,  mammitis,  or 


Fig.  102. —DIAGRAM   OF  A  COW'S  UDDEB. 

inflammation  of  the  mammae  or  milk  glands,  includes  a 
number  of  affections  of  this  organ  ;  garget,  ropy  milk, 
bloody  milk,  diseased  or  impure  milk,  and  whatever  may 
cause  disorder  of  the  milk  secretions. 

A  description  of  the  construction  of  the  udder,  or 
rather  the  mammary  glands,  of  which  the  cow  has  four 
inclosed  in  one  common  envelope,  all  of  which  we  call 
the  udder,  will  explain  more  clearly  the  nature  and  effect 
of  the  various  disorders  which  are  commonly  included  in 
the  term  garget.     At  figure  102  is  a  representation  of  a 


DISEASES   OF   COWS. 


439 


supposed  section  of  the  udder  made  lengthwise  through 
it,  from  front  to  rear.  At  a  is  the  milk  vein,  so-called, 
but  really  the  abdominal  subcutaneous  vein,  which  in 
some  cows  has  an  enormous  volume.  The  capillary  or  ulti- 
mate branches  of  this  vein  are  very  numerous,  and  connect 
and  anastomose,  or  form  a  continuous  net-work,  with  the 
capillary  or  ultimate  branches  of  the  subcutaneous  ab- 
dominal artery  which  supplies  the  mammae  with  blood. 
These  capillaries  surround  and  envelop  the  gland  vesicles, 
shown  at  figure  103.  These  gland  vesicles  here  figured 
appear  as  magnified  four  times.  Each  one  of  these  mi^ 
nute  vesicles  has  the  office  or  function  of  secreting  the 
milk  from  the  blood  supplied  to  it  by  the  arteries,  and 


Fiff.  103. 


Fig.  104. 


forming  cell  tissue,  and  the  blood  which  has  parted 
with  its  quota  of  cell  matter  and  fat  then  passes  to  its 
veins  on  its  way  to  the  lungs  and  heart  for  purification 
and  a  fresh  supply  of  nutriment  from  the  great  thoracic 
vein  which  pours  into  the  heart  the  blood  newly  formed 
from  the  digested  food.  Thus  the  milk  is  as  direct  a 
product  of  the  blood  as  are  the  muscular  tisue  and 
fat,  which  are  deposited  in  their  proper  places  from  the 
proper  vessels  of  supply.  These  gland  vesicles  are  clus- 
tered in  groups  around  the  lactiferous  or  milk-conveying 
ducts,  much  as  a  bunch  of  grapes  is  clustered  around  the 
stem  upon  which  they  hang  from  the  vine-stalk.  They 
are  about  l-200th  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Each  vesicle 
contains  a  number  of  cells  and  each  cell  has  a  nucleus  or 


440  THE  DAIRYMAN*S  MANUAL. 

central  mass ;  this  is  shown  at  figure  104,  in  which  the 
gland  vesicles  are  highly  magnified.  These  gland  cells 
become  infiltrated  with  fat  during  the  period  of  milk 
production,  and  this  fat  supplies  the  cream  of  the  milk. 
The  milk  ducts  converge  and  run  into  two,  three,  and 
sometimes  four  large  channels,  which  in  their  turn  empty 
into  a  larger  reservoir  situated  at  the  base  of  the  teat. 
These  milk  ducts  are  lined  with  a  fine  mucous  mem- 
brane, and  this  itself  secretes  some  portion  of  the  milk 
w^hich  always  contains  more  or  less  mucus.  The  teat 
is  formed  of,  first,  this  fine  mucous  membrane,  which  is 
very  delicate  and  sensitive,  then  a  thick  layer  of  tissue 
over  which  the  mucous  membrane  is  doubled,  and  this 
tissue  is  again  covered  by  the  skin.  Among  this  tissue 
are  numerous  bundles  (fasciculi)  of  muscular  fiber,  ar- 
ranged in  a  circular  and  a  longitudinal  manner  around 
the  duct  or  orifice  of  the  teat.  At  the  base  of  the  teat  is 
the  sphincter  muscle,  which  operates  as  an  elastic  band 
or  ring  to  close  the  duct ;  below  this  are  several  other 
bands  of  concentric  muscular  fiber,  and  around  the  duct, 
lengthwise  of  the  teat,  are  arranged  numerous  other 
fibers.  The  whole  of  the  structure  of  the  glands  is  sup- 
plied abundantly  with  nerves. 

From  this  description  of  the  milk  glands  and  the  fur- 
ther account  of  the  functions  and  character  of  the  ulti- 
mate cells  of  the  gland  vesicles  or  lobules  given  in  a 
previous  chapter,  their  delicate  and  sensitive  nature  can 
be  readily  understood.  The  large  supply  of  blood  which 
passes  through  the  glandular  substance  from  the  impor- 
tant artery  which  supplies  the  whole  reproductive  system, 
renders  it  remarkably  sensitive  to  any  disturbances  of  the 
circulation,  or  any  accidental  local  derangement.  In- 
flammation arising  from  excessive  circulation  and  supply 
of  blood  is  accompanied  by  engorgement  of  the  fine 
capillary  vessels  and  blood  may  then  pass  directly  into 
the  secretory  glands,  and  thence  with  the  cell  matter  into 


DISEASES  Ot  COWS.  441 

the  ducts  and  become  mingled  with  the  milk.  This  ex- 
plains the  cause  of  bloody  milk  which  is  sometimes  given 
by  cows,  or  at  times  becomes  a  permanent  product  of 
-  young  cows  whose  mammary  glands  are  in  an  abnormal 
or  undeveloped  condition.  It  also  explains  how  the  sensi- 
tive mucous  membrane,  abundantly  supplied  with  blood 
in  the  minute  circulating  vessels,  when  in  an  inflam- 
matory condition  from  any  cause,  secretes  an  excessive 
quantity  of  mucus,  and  hence  we  may  have  ropy  milk  ; 
which  is  milk  containing  so  excessive  a  mixture  of 
mucus  as  to  become  adherent  and  stringy.  Or  when 
this  ropy,  glutinoUs,  adherent  mass  fills  the  ducts,  and 
no  milk  can  pass  through  them,  the  lobular  masses 
become  engorged  and  tumefied,  the  udder  becomes 
swollen  and  hard  and  painful  from  the  tension  upon 
the  sensitive  tissue,  the  gathered  matter  is  absorbed 
into  the  connective  tissue  and  the  capillary  vessels,  and 
we  have  a  development  of  garget  or  inflamed  and  tumefied 
udder  in  its  worst  form. 

Unless  speedily  relieved,  the  fine  secretory  cells  be- 
come obliterated  in  a  growth  of  hardened  fibrous  tissue, 
and  the  gland,  so  far  as  this  may  occur,  loses  perma- 
nently its  power  of  yielding  milk,  and  a  part  of  the 
udder  may,  as  we  sometimes  find,  become  spoiled  for 
future  use  and  permanently  dried  up.  In  bad  cases  the 
cellular  matter  breaks  down  into  pus  which  burrows 
through  the  gland,  forming  an  abscess,  or  several  of  them, 
by  which  the  products  of  the  inflammation  escape.  This 
involves  destruction  of  the  glandular  substance,  the  lob- 
ular masses  are  destroyed,  and  the  productive  abihty  of 
the  udder  is  in  greater  or  less  part  lost  beyond  restora- 
tion. The  structure  of  the  teat  and  of  the  fibrous  bands 
enveloping  the  glands  explains  how  the  cow  is  able  tore- 
tain  the  milk  or  let  it  down,  as  is  done  in  the  operation 
of  milking.  The  whole  muscular  part  of  the  udder  is 
under  the  control  of  a  system  of  voluntary  nerves.     The 


442 

cow  can  draw  tight  the  sphincter  muscle  which  closes 
the  outlet  of  the  main  lactiferous  reservoir  at  the  base  of 
the  teat.  She  can  contract  the  muscular  bands  which 
support,  the  whole  udder,  and  so  compress  the  whole  ar- 
rangement of  the  ducts  as  to  prevent  the  flow  of  milk. 
Or  when,  by  reason  of  weakness  of  the  sphincter  muscle 
or  by  the  will  of  the  cow,  it  is  loosened,  the  passage  is 
opened  for  the  escape  of  the  milk,  and  it  leaks  away 
and  is  lost.  Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  fine 
membrane  lining  the  teat  is  injured,  and  tumors  or 
lumps  are  produced  and  the  duct  is  obstructed,  the 
cause  may  be  easily  understood.  Oi^  when  the  skin  at 
the  outer  orifice  of  the  teat  scales  off,  as  it  is  apt  to  do, 
and  the  milk  spatters  and  spreads  instead  of  flowing 
with  an  even  stream,  we  may  recognize  the  cause  of  the 
trouble  from  knowing  the  precise  method  in  which  the 
teat  is  constructed. 

TRfiATMEiST   OF   MAMMITIS   OR   GARGET. 

An  attack  of  garget  requires  instant  treatment;  neglect 
may  cause  serious  results,  while  immediate  care  may  soon 
overcome  the  trouble.  The  treatment  varies  somewhat 
according  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  attack ;  and 
this  differs  greatly  as  the  causes  differ.  The  causes  of 
garget,  in  which  may  be  included  all  the  forms  of  the 
disease,  are  constitutional  tendency  to  inflammatory 
disease  ;  overfeeding  with  stimulating  food,  such  as 
cotton-seed  meal,  which  readily  provokes  it ;  inflamma- 
tion resulting  from  cold,  as  exposure  to  cold  rains  soon 
after  calving  or  by  l3ang  upon  damp  cold  ground  ;  exces- 
sive muscular  strain,  as  by  chasing  around  when  the 
udder  is  filled  ;  retention  of  milk,  either  purposely  done 
by  the  owner,  or  by  the  cow  withholding  the  milk  ;  and 
lastly,  by  a  sort  of  reflex  action  upon  the  milk  glands 
produced  by  a  generally  diseased  condition  of  the  cow 


DISEASES  OE  CQWS.  448 

which  disturbs  the  circulation  and  forces  it  excessively 
in  this  direction,  or  which  produces  a  diseased  and  irri- 
tant condition  of  the  blood. 

It  is  readily  seen  that  each  of  these  conditions  may 
call  for  a  different  treatment,  and  that  it  would  not  be 
difficult  for  the  owner  of  a  cow  to  do  mischief  by  adopt- 
ing the  advice  of  a  neighbor  or  friend,  who  might  have, 
at  one  time,  procured  relief  in  a  case  having  an  entirely 
dilfereut  origin,  by  the  use  of  some  particular  treatment 
or  remedial  agent.  In  some  cases  it  is  very  clear  that 
medicine  might  be  required.  For  instance,  when  the 
trouble  is  caused  by  some  disease  of  the  blood  and 
this  is  removed  the  secondary  effects  may  disappear.  In 
some  cases  mechanical  treatment  only  may  be  needed,  as 
when  the  vessels  and  ducts  have  become  engorged  and 
the  milk  has  clotted  in  them,  and  an  alkaline  injection 
would  dissolve  the  solid  caseous  matter  and  enable  it  to 
be  drawn  away.  In  other  cases  both  this  treatment  and 
medicine  would  be  needed,  as  when  the  blood  is  in  an 
acid  condition  during  a  feverish  state  of  the  system,  and 
alkaline  salts  may  be  given  internally  and  injected  into 
the  udder  as  well. 

Sometimes  soothing  outward  applications  may  be  re- 
quisite, as  w^hen  muscular  strains  or  accidental  blows  have 
caused  the  trouble;  and  at  other  times  when  suppuration 
is  probable  some  absorbent  agent,  such  as  iodine,  may  be 
applied,  and  an  antiseptic  medicine  given  internally.  In 
this  case  warm  fomentations  would  be  useful,  and  it  may 
even  be  advisable  to  apply  hot  poultices  and  to  support 
the  udder  by  a  broad  bandage  carried  under  it  and  over 
the  loins.  When  i£  is  necessary  to  draw  the  milk  from  a 
disordered  udder,  a  silver  milking  tube  may  be  used, 
which  is  inserted  in  the  teat  and  through  it  the  milk 
flows  by  its  own  gravity.  This  treatment  overcomes 
any  obstinate  interference  by  the  cow  with  the  flow  of 
milk,  and  brings  it  down  in  spite  of  her    objections. 


444  THE   DAtETMAN*S  MANUAL. 

When  the  milk  is  too  ropy  and  clotted  to  be  drawn  in 
this  way,  an  injection  of  one  teaspoonful  of  carbonate  of 
soda  (common  baking  soda)  or  saleratus,  dissolved  in  a 
pint  or  half  a  pint  of  warm  water,  may  be  injected  into 
the  ndder  through  the  teats.  This  will  dissolve  the 
thickened  milk  and  enable  it  to  be  drawn  either  by  the 
milking  tube  or  by  the  hands  or  fingers.  These  methods 
will  be  applicable  whenever  the  udder  requires  to  be  re- 
lieved of  its  contents,  unduly  retained  from  whatever 
cause. 

When  the  cow  is  in  a  fevered  condition,  or  the  udder 
is  greatly  inflamed,  tender  and  hot,  a  cooling  saline  med- 
icine will  be  useful ;  this  may  be  a  pound  of  Ej^som  or 
Glauber  salts,  and  if  the  fever  is  very  considerable,  one 
ounce  of  saltpeter  may  be  added.  A  saline  diuretic, 
such  as  saltpeter,  will  always  relieve  an  inflamed  udder, 
as  it  increases  the  action  of  the  kidneys  and  so  reduces 
the  activity  of  the  milk-secreting  glands. 

"When  the  udder  is  in  a  suppurative  condition,  and  the 
matter  drawn  from  the  teats  is  mixed  with  pus,  hyposul- 
phite of  soda  will  be  beneficial;  this  is  an  effective  anti- 
septic and  prevents  danger  from  the  absorption  of  pus 
into  the  blood.  This  salt  is  given  in  one-ounce  doses 
daily  and  should  be  continued  until  all  danger  is  re- 
moved. A  mixture  of  four  ounces  of  glycerine,  with 
one  dram  of  iodide  of  potassium,  dissolved  in  as  little 
water  as  is  necessary  to  make  the  solution,  will  be  useful 
to  disperse  a  threatened  abscess,  or  to  soften  the  udder 
when  it  is  very  hard  from  an  obstinately  congested  con- 
dition. The  iodine  is  an  active  absorbent  and  has  been 
used  in  such  cases  with  the  best  effect.  A  portion 
of  this  mixture  is  well  rubbed  into  the  skin  of  the 
udder  after  it  has  been  fomented  with  hot  water,  and 
wiped  dry  with  a  soft  towel.  The  udder  is  gently 
pressed  and  kneaded  with  the  hands  during  the  rub- 
bing.    Camphorated  soap  liniment,  well  rubbed  into  the 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  445 

udder  after  fomentation,  is  also  useful  in  mild  cases. 
To  draw  the  milk  from  the  udder  is  indispensable,  and 
the  milking  tube  should  be  used  if  necessary.  When  a 
portion  of  the  udder  becomes  tumefied,  fomentations  of 
hot  water,  or  a  hot  poultice  of  linseed  meal  applied  to 
the  part  by  means  of  a  broad  bandage  covering  the  udder 
and  brought  up  over  the  back  and  securely  fastened  there 
and  behind  the  buttocks,  will  be  advisable.  These  rem- 
edies are  only  suggested  for  use  with  such  cows  as  may 
be  affected  with  garget.  It  is  impossible  to  mention 
particularly  the  right  treatment  for  every  special  case. 
Ordinary  judgment  and  reason  must  be  used  to  meet 
each  particular  case  when  treatment  is  found  necessary. 

VACCIKE    VARIOLA — COW    POX. 

One  of  the  most  annoying  diseases  to  which  cows  are 
subject  is  pox,  or  variola.  It  would  be  trifling  in  its 
effect  upon  the  cow  were  it  not  that  it  affects  the  teats 
and  renders  milking  dilBficult  or  almost  impossible,  and 
that  when  it  appears  in  a  herd  it  goes  through  the  whole 
of  it.  This  disease  is  an  eruptive,  contagious  fever,  com- 
municated by  a  special  virus  or  germ  reproduced  by  the 
disease.     The  history  of  the  disease  is  as  follows  : 

When  the  owner  of  a  cow  is  milking  the  animal,  he 
discovers  that  she  is  uneasy  and  restless,  and  on  search- 
ing for  the  cause  may  find  one  or  more  hard  nodules  in 
the  skin  of  the  teat,  which  are  painful  to  the  cow  when 
pressed.  The  milk  also  falls  off  somewhat  in  quantity. 
In  a  few  days  these  nodules  appear  at  the  surface  in  the 
form  of  round,  inflamed  spots,  somewhat  raised  above 
the  skin,  and  depressed  or  pitted  in  the  center.  The 
form  and  position  of  these  spots  are  similar  to  that 
shown  in  the  engraving,  figure  105,  and  they  usually 
appear  upon  the  teats  in  tlie  position  shown.  In  three 
or  four  days  the  spots  are  found  to  contain  liquid  matter. 


446 


THE    DAIRYMAN  S   MANUAL. 


and,  if  care  is  not  taken,  are  broken  and  may  become  raw 
sores  which  are  difficult  to  heal,  which,  in  fact,  sometimes 
result  very  disastrously  and  even  fatally. 

By  and  by  the  contained  liquid  becomes  a  thick  yel- 
lowish pus  which  dries  into  a  scab,  and  this  in  time 
becomes  loose  and  falls  off,  being  replaced  by  newly- 
formed  skin.  "When  one  case  is  out  of  the  way  another 
appears,  and  in  a  herd  of  twenty  or  more  it  may  coutinue 
the  whole  summer  in  its  passage  through  the  herd, 
giving  constant  annoyance.  During  the  progress  of  the 
disease  the  udder  is  inflamed  and  tender,  and  the  teats 
are  quite  painful  when  pressed;  so  much  so  that  milking 


N:>0^i^  ■  v;.X  \:'////:yU^ 


Fig.  105.— APPEAEANCE  OF  COW  POX.    J..— MILKING  TUBE. 

in  the  usual  manner  is  impossible.     Recourse  is  then  had 
to  milking  tubes. 

This  disease  is  readily  communicated  to  mankind  and 
to  horses,  and  spreads  from  cow  to  cow,  being  usually 
conveyed  by  the  milker,  w^hose  hands  and  clothing  soon 
become  infected  with  the  rirus.  The  matter  contained 
in  the  vesicles  is  the  true  vaccine  virus  used  for  inoculat- 
ing persons  as  an  antidote  to  the  more  dreaded  and  viru- 
lent small-pox,  and  in  its  effect  upon  mankind  occasions 
no  worse  disturbance  than  the  slight  fever  and  some- 
times glandular  swellings  incident  to  the  operation  of 
vaccination.  The  virus  will  often  remain  permanently 
in  a  stable,  and  Avill  cause  every  heifer  which  comes  to 
milk  in  it  to  contract  the  disease.     When  this  is  found 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  447 

to  be  the  case  the  stable  should  be  thoroughly  disinfected 
by  burning  sulphur  in  it  very  liberally,  sprinkling  carbolic 
acid  freely  over  the  floors,  and  thoroughly  whitewashing 
the  walls  and  the  stall  and  other  furniture. 

The  treatment  of  the  disease  is  very  simple,  if  precau- 
tions are  used  to  prevent  the  rupture  or  forcible  removal 
of  the  vesicles  or  scabs  before  the  contained  matter  has 
dried  and  hardened.  This  is  best  done  by  the  use  of  the 
milking  tubes  and  by  softening  the  teats  and  allaying 
the  irritation  by  cooling,  emollient  applications,  such  as 
the  simple  cerate  of  the  druggists  or  the  prepared  cos- 
moline  or  vaseline  jelly  which  is  both  emollient  and 
antiseptic,  being  a  preparation  from  petroleum.  The 
only  medicine  required  is  a  daily  dose  of  one  ounce  of 
.hyposulphite  of  soda  in  the  feed,  given  as  long  as  the 
eruption  lasts.  The  same  may  be  given  to  the  other 
cows  or  heifers  in  the  dairy  or  stable  as  a  preventive 
or  as  a  means  of  very  much  lightening  the  results  of 
an  attack  upon  them.  During  the  continuance  of  the 
disease  the  effect  upon  the  milk  is  either  imperceptible 
or  very  light.  When  at  the  first  inception  the  udder 
becomes  hard  and  inflamed  the  milk  curdles  prematurely 
and  will  often  thicken  if  brought  to  a  heat  of  150  degrees. 
There  will  sometimes  be  white  specks  in  the  butter 
caused  by  the  coagulation  of  portions  of  the  milk,  and 
perhaps  by  the  presence  of  secreted  matter  in  it ;  but  in 
general  there  is  nothing  in  the  milk  that  would  indicate 
that  the  cow  was  ailing  in  any  way.  Nevertheless,  as  the 
ailment  is  a  blood  disease,  and  the  blood  has  been  sub- 
jected to  the  action  of  a  special  virus  by  which  the 
disease  has  been  produced,  and  as  the  milk  is  a  direct 
product  from  the  blood,  it  is  at  least  subject  to  suspicion 
and  should  not  be  used  by  persons  who  are  particular  as 
to  the  purity  and  wholesome  character  of  their  food, 
which  they  are  wise  in  demanding  should  be  above 
suspicion. 


448  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

The  duration  of  the  disease  is  from  ten  to  twenty  days, 
and  if  the  cow  is  kept  warm  and  free  from  exposure  to 
rain  or  inclement  weather,  no  complication  is  likely  to 
occur.  In  some  cases  the  disease  passes  off  with  a  very 
slight  eruption,  a  mere  pustule  followed  by  a  scab  upon 
one  teat  only,  and  that  of  a  very  inconsiderable  character, 
being  observable,  and  the  owner  of  the  cow^  never  sus- 
pecting the  nature  of  the  slight  trouble,  even  should  he 
give.it  a  passing  thought.  But  as  cases  are  by  no  means 
rare  in  which  the  disease  has  spread  very  quickly  to 
other  cows,  and  these  have  experienced  a  more  serious 
indisposition,  it  is  wise  for  the  dairyman  to  be  on  his 
guard  and  use  all  necessary  precautions  as  soon  as  he 
perceives  the  first  indications  of  the  disease  in  the  herd. 
Then  the  sick  animal  should  be  isolated.  She  should  be 
milked  after  all  the  others,  or  the  person  who  milks  her 
should  not  approach  the  other  cows,  and  the  precau- 
tionary dose  of  hyposulphite  of  soda  above  mentioned 
should  be  given  daily  for  at  least  ten  days,  gradually 
reducing  it  after  that  down  to  one-fourth  the  quantity 
mentioned. 

OBSTKUCTED  TEATS. 

Small  tumors  occasionally  form  in  the  milk  ducts 
along  the  teats  and  interfere  with  the  milking,  or  at 
times  quite  close  the  passage.  These  usually  come  to  a, 
head  and  break  and  give  no  more  trouble,  but  sometimes 
they  form  a  permanent  enlargement  and  become  a  serious 
impediment  to  the  milking.  The  use  of  a  milking  tube 
serves  to  remove  the  obstruction  temporarily,  but  when  a 
permanent  obstacle  forms  it  is  removed  by  means  of  a 
blunt-end  steel  probe,  having,  an  inch  below  the  end, 
triangular  sharp  edges  projecting  slightly  so  as  to  cut 
the  obstacle  and  form  a  passage,  which  is  kept  open 
during  the  healing  by  means  of  a  wooden  plug  wliicli  is 
inserted  into  the  duct  between  the  milkings;  the  milking 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  449 

bemg  done  by  means  of  a  tube.     This  plug  is  provided 
with  a  head  to  prevent  its  slipping  wholly  into  the  teat. 

FISTULA    OF   TEAT.. 

When  an  opening  forms  in  the  side  of  the  teat,  through 
which  the  milk  escapes  during  the  milking,  it  is  known 
as  fistula.  It  is  removed  by  carefully  dissecting  the  skin 
around  the  opening,  and  into  it,  as  far  as  possible,  when 
the  opening  is  enlarged  by  a  slight  cut  at  each  side;  the 
edges  of  the  wound  are  drawn  together  by  stitches,  one 
safe  one  being  put  through  the  part  where  the  fistula 
existed.  When  the  wound  heals  the  opening  is  closed. 
This  must  be  done  when  the  cow  is  dry. 

DISEASED   MILK. 

Milk  is  subject  to  several  imperfections  resulting  from 
various  diseases  of  the  udder  or  from  constitutional  and 
blood  disorders.  The  most  common  of  these  imper- 
fections is 

Bloody  Milh. — This  is  caused  mostly  by  physical  in- 
juries to  the  udder,  as  violent  exercise,  blows,  stepping 
upon  it  by  other  cows  while  the  one  is  lying  down,  etc., 
etc.  In  such  cases  the  trouble  is  temporary  and  disap- 
pears upon  fomentation  with  hot  water  and  the  applica- 
tion of  a  stimulatino*  liniment.  It  is  sometimes  due  to 
defective  action  of  the  secretory  glands,  which  may  be 
temporary  or  permanent,  but  is  usually  temporary  and  is 
quickly  remedied  by  giving  a  cooling  laxative  and  alter- 
ative, as  a  pound  of  Epsom  salts  with  one  ounce  of  hypo- 
sulphite of  soda,  following,  for  a  week  or  ten  days. 

Blue  and  Watery  Milk  is  an  indication  of  the  serious 
disease  known  as  tuberculosis.  As  this  disease  is  infec- 
tious and  generally  fatal  in  course  of  a  few  months,  and 
the  milk  is  quite  unfit  for  food  in  some  cases,  a  careful 
investigation  should  be  made  to  discover  if  this  disease  is 


450  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

present.  If  it  is  so  found,  the  animal  should  be  at  once 
slaughtered  and  buried  deei)ly  as  a  means  of  safety  from 
its  spread  among  the  herd  or  from  worse  effects  upon 
persons  who  might  use  the  milk.  Other  indications  of 
the  disease  are  emaciation,  dullness,  dry  harsh  skiu, 
swollen  glands  under  the  jaws,  paleness  of  the  mem- 
branes, sunken  dull  eyes,  and  a  mawkish  or  fetid  breath. 
Sometimes  cows  give  a  bluish -colored  watery  milk  as  a 
natural  peculiarity,  but  such  animals,  although  free  from 
disease,  are  unprofitable  and  should  be  quickly  weeded 
out  of  the  herd. 

MILK     FEVER. 

This  disease  is  one  of  the  most  serious  that  affect  dairy 
cows  and  has  been  a  subject  of  study  and  discussion 
among  veterinarians  for  fujly  a  century.  It  occurs 
mostly  among  the  best  class  of  cows  and  the  most  pro- 
ductive milkers,  and  usually  appears  from  twelve  or 
twenty-four  hours  after  calving  up  to  the  third  day. 
There  are  no  premonitory* symptoms,  excepting  a  dimin- 
ished flow  of  milk  or  a  total  and  sudden  cessation  of  it. 
The  first  apparent  symptoms  are  drooping  of  the  head, 
whisking  of  the  tail,  general  uneasiness,  striking  at  the 
belly  with  the  feet,  loss  of  appetite,  and  cessation  of 
rumination.  A  shivering  fit  commonly  occurs.  Some- 
times the  cow  stands  with  the  head  pressed  against  the 
front  of  the  stall  and  exhibits  all  the  attitudes  of  intense 
stupor — the  mouth  is  hot,  the  eyes  red,  and  there  is  an 
unconscious  treading  motion  of  the  hind  feet.  Breath- 
ing becomes  rapid,  the  animal  is  unable  to  stand  and 
falls  to  the  floor,  or  lies  down  heavily.  Quite  often  the 
cow  is  supposed  to  be  all  right  until  she  is  found  down, 
lying  on  the  side  or  resting  on  the  brisket,  with  the  head 
turned  around  to  the  flank  and  lying  stiffly  w^ith  the 
nose  close  to  the  belly.     The  muscles  of  the  neck  are 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  451 

contracted  and  the  neck  is  rigidly  bent  so  that  the  head 
cannot  be  moved  from  this  position.  This  symptom  is 
typical  of  the  disease,  and  gives  rise  to  one  popular  name 
for  it,  viz.:  ^'Dropping  after  Calving."  Stupor  be- 
comes more  and  more  intense  and  the  animal  falls  into  a 
comatose  condition  from  which  it  rarely  recovers.  There 
is  no  fever,  and  the  temperature  falls  below  the  normal; 
the  feet,  ears  and  horns  are  exceedingly  cold,  and  the 
movements  of  the  bowels  are  suspended.  If  the  animal 
recovers,  these  symptoms  may  be  continued  for  as  long  as 
four  days  ;  if  death  does  not  ensue  in  two  days  recovery 
may  be  hoped  for.  In  this  case  the  cow  seems  to  sud- 
denly awake  from  its  stupor,  raises  its  head,  and  after 
some  struggles  rises  upon  its  feet  and  stands.  When 
the  movement  of  the  bowels  returns  recovery  is  assured. 
When,  on  the  other  hand,  death  is  approaching,  thecoma 
becomes  more  intense,  the  head  sinks  and  rests  upon  the 
ground  or  it  sways  from  side  to  side,  the  eye  is  glassy 
and  insensible  to  the  touch,  the  belly  becomes  swollen 
with  gas,  the  breathing  is  hard,  and  the  animal  dies 
easily  or  with  some  slight  convulsions.  In  this  disease 
the  deaths  are  about  forty-five  to  fifty  per  cent ;  the 
largest  proportion  being  those  cases  which  occur  the 
soonest  after  calving.  When  two  days  elapse  before 
the  attack,  recovery  may  be  looked  for. 
i  The  causes  of  the  disease  being  known  one  may  exer- 
cise precautions  against  it.  As  it  is  chiefly  the  highly 
bred,  heavy  milking,  or  large  bodied  plethoric  cows 
which  are  attacked,  great  caution  should  be  observed 
with  these  to  avoid  high  feeding  for  a  few  weeks  before 
calving.  Or  when  cows  have  been  permitted  to  fall  off 
in  condition  for  months  previous  to  the  calving,  the 
feeding  should  be  very  carefully  increased  up  to  the 
period  when  calving  is  looked  for.  Close  confinement  is 
to  be  avoided,  and  abundant  exercise  should  be  given  to 
incoming  cows.     Generally  whatever  will  lower  the  con- 


452  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

dition  of  vitality  or  excite  the  circulation  in  internal 
organs,  checking  the  action  in  the  skin  and  extremities, 
should  be  carefully  avoided. 

The  treatment  is  chiefly  mechanical.  Every  effort 
should  be  used  to  increase  the  action  of  the  skin  and 
the  circulation  in  the  limbs  by  the  application  of 
ammonia  liniment,  or  of  mustard  to  the  back  along  the 
spine,  a  wet  sheet  wra2")ped  around  the  body  and  covered 
with  blankets,  and  the  application  over  the  blanket  of 
hot  flat-irons  aloug  the  sj^ine  and  loins,  with  brisk  rub- 
bing of  the  limbs  and  applications  of  turpentine,  or  hot 
water  by  means  of  flannel  cloths  steeped  in  it,  wrapped 
around  the  limbs.  If  the  bloating  is  severe  the  paunch 
should  be  opened  with  a  small-bladed  knife  or  a  trocar 
(fig.  106,  p.  462)  inserted  on  the  left  side,  at  a  point  equi- 
distant from  the  point  of  the  hip  bone,  the  last  rib  and  the 
backbone,  and  penetrating  downwards  to  avoid  the  kid- 
ney and  lumbar  muscles.  Injections  of  warm  soapsuds 
after  the  bowel  has  been  emptied  manurally  are  to  be 
given,  and  half  a  pint  of  whisky  with  one  ounce  of  tinct- 
ure of  camphor  has  been  serviceable  when  medicines  by 
the  mouth  have  failed.  In  short,  the  treatment  of  this 
disease  must  include  relief  to  the  brain  from  the  prevail- 
ing congestion,  stimulating  the  functions  of  the  skin, 
promoting  the  action  of  the  intestines,  stimulating  the 
lower  nervous  system,  the  spine  and  the  lumbar  nerves, 
removing  the  milk  and  stimulating  the  action  of  the 
udder.  When  the  disorder  is  relieved  the  animal  should 
be  nursed  back  to  strength  by  means  of  mild  tonics  and 
small  but  frequent  rations  of  easily  digested  and  nutri- 
tious food. 

3IILK    SICKNESS. 

'^Milk  sick"  is  a  mysterious  disease,  a  peculiar  charac- 
teristic of  it  being  that  the  infected  cows  escape,  while 
the  calves  and  persons  who  use  the  milk  suffer,  and  in 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  453 

frequent  cases  perish,  by  the  poisoning.  Male  cattle  take 
the  disease,  which  poisons  the  flesh  and  renders  it  un- 
wholesome for  food,  while  cows  enjoy  impunity  in  the 
escape  of  the  poison  through  the  milk. 

Half  a  century  ago,  when  there  were  far  more  undrained 
swamp,  impure  water,  and  malaria  than  there  are  now, 
there  were  many  more  cases  of  the  disorder  than  there 
have  been  of  recent  years.  Then  the  very  buzzards,  the 
hogs,  the  turkeys,  and  the  dogs  and  cats  that  ate  of 
the  carcasses  of  animals  which  had  died  of  the  disease 
themselves  died  of  milk  sickness.  Cats,  dogs,  calves, 
and  chickens  that  drank  the  milk  or  ate  the  flesh  of  cows 
suffering  from  the  malady  staggered  around  weakly  for 
days  and  died.  Many  people  died  of  the  disease,  induced 
by  eating  butter  or  drinking  milk  from  diseased  cows.    ' 

Then  the  theory  was  held  that  the  ailment  was  caused 
by  eating  some  plant  that  appeared  late  in  the  season. 
Others  believed  that  the  cause  might  be  found  in  the 
earth  licked  up  by  the  stock  at  what  are  known  as  salt- 
licks. Still  others  believed  that  cattle  were  poisoned  by 
eating  grass  on  which  some  mineral,  carried  up  with 
moisture  from  the  earth  during  the  warm  hours  of  the 
day,  settled  with  the  dew  in  the  cool  evening  and  night ; 
and  yet  others  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  disease  was 
induced  by  the  drinking  of  water  from  stagnant  pools 
or  from  impure  streams.  The  early  settler  sometimes 
fenced  about  the  spots  where  observation  taught  him 
the  germs  of  the  malady  lurked.  In  time  the  land 
around  these  spots  was  plowed  and  seeded,  water  was 
drained  off,  and  the  fences  rotted  and  fell,  the  plow  com- 
pleted the  work  of  purification,  and  the  previous  existence 
of  the  disease  was  forgotten. 

Milk  sickness  is  known  in  many  of  the  States  lying 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River;  it  also  exists  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  among  its  foothills  in  Western 
North   Carolina   and   Georgia.     In  the  great  valley  of 


454 

East  Tennessee  it  is  also  found  in  the  foothills,  where 
the  pastures  are  rich  and  moist  and  the  growth  of  grass 
vigorous.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  malady  has  pre- 
vailed longer  and  more  extensively  in  the  southern  parts 
of  Indiana  and  Illinois  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  land. 
It  appeared  regularly  each  year,  usually,  if  not  invariably, 
in  the  dry,  warm  weeks  of  the  closing  summer,  when  the 
streams  were  low  and  the  water  supply  was  generally 
stagnant  and  festering  with  noxious  germs.  Human 
beings  and  stock  besides  neat  cattle  have  received 
the  germs  of  the  malady  from  sources  other  than  the 
milk  or  the  butter  of  affected  cows.  Indeed,  people  who 
did  not  use  milk  or  butter  have  died  o*f  the  disorder,  and 
swine  and  dogs  that  had  no  access  to  such  food  have 
done  the  same.  In  view  of  these  facts  the  theory  may 
be  entertained  that  the  cause  is  not  found  in  noxious 
weeds,  as  has  been  held  by  some,  nor  can  if  be  grass  or  a 
mineral  poison  like  arsenic,  as  has  been  believed. 

In  the  second  annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal 
Industry  an  account  is  given  of  the  discoveries  made  by 
Dr.  Joseph  Gardner,  of  Lawrence  County,  Indiana,  in 
his  investigations  of  milk  sickness.  Describing  the  re- 
sults of  a  microscopic  examination  of  the  blood  from  a 
heifer  suffering  from  the  malady.  Dr.  Gardner  said  :  **  I 
was  startled  but  not  surprised  to  see  that  in  the  small 
space  embraced  in  the  field,  and  which  could  be  covered 
by  a  transverse  section  of  a  fine  cambric  needle,  there 
were  countless  multitudes  of  actively  moving,  writhing, 
twisting  bacteria  that  bore,  in  size  and  behavior,  a  strik- 
ing resemblance  to  that  form  of  bacteria  called  by  natur- 
alists Bacteria  suhtiUissima.  They  seemed  to  cling  to 
the  blood  disks,  to  be  between  them,  to  be  within  some 
of  them,  and  to  be  in  such  an  innumerable  multitude 
as  to  fairly  fill  the  observer  with  horror  at  the  bare 
thought  that  the  blood  of  even  a  domesticated  animal 
should  have  such   terrible  inmates.     Some  dogs  ate  of 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  455 

the  dead  cow,  and  they  too  were  attacked  by  the  ' slows' 
and  their  blood  showed  the  same  form  of  bacteria." 

Knowing  that  some  of  the  family  owning  the  sick  cow 
had  not  partaken  of  milk  or  butter,  but  had  nevertheless 
suffered  from  the  disease,  Dr.  Gardner  examined  with 
his  microscope  the  water  taken  from  the  springs  from 
which  the  family  drank,  and  found  that  it  appeared  clear 
and  pure  to  the  unaided  eye,  but  was  filled  by  the  same 
forms  of  bacteria  that  swarmed  in  the  blood  of  the  cow. 
In  another  family  a  case  of  milk  sickness  had  occurred. 
Dr.  Gardner  examined  some  of  the  milk  he  took  from  a 
cow  whose  milk  was  used  by  the  patients,  and  found  in 
it  just  such  living  organisms  as  he  discovered  in  the  blood 
and  water.  Afterward  he  found  the  same  bacteria,  but 
in  smaller  numbers,  in  the  blood  of  two  persons  not  se- 
verely attacked.  In  giving  his  account  of  his  studies  of 
this  malady.  Dr.  Gardner  said  that  milk  sickness  never 
prevails  in  wet  seasons,  when  springs  are  flush  and 
streams  are  full.  He  was  not  willing  to  assert  that  water 
is  the  only  medium  outside  of  animals  in  which  the  bac- 
teria may  propagate  in  sufficient  quantities  to  cause  the 
disease  to  manifest  itself,  *^but,"  said  he,  '^we  may  rest 
assured  that  if  the  cattle  and  the  families  have  water  of 
unquestioned  purity  the  other  sources  and  uses  will  not 
be  prominent  factors  in  its  production."  He  added  that 
gastritis  and  bilious  fever  are  the  only  diseases  the  physi-i 
cian  Avill  be  likely  to  confound  with  milk  sickness.  The 
treatment  he  adopted  consisted  of  the  administration, 
each  two  hours,  of  full  doses  of  brandy  and  honey,  or 
sirup,  with  sulphur  and  magnesia.  The  patients  quickly 
recovered.  This  treatment  is  the  same  as  that  used  in 
the  Blue  Ridge  localities  of  west  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia  where  the  disease  prevails. 

It  seems  to  be  important  that  consumers  shall  be 
warned  of  the  danger  that  may  lie  in  consuming  milk, 
butter   or  meats   from  districts  in  which  milk  sickness 


456 

appears,  and  that  physicians,  even  in  places  remote  from 
spots  where  that  disorder  originates,  shall  be  ready  to  rec- 
ognize it  whenever  it  may  aj^pear,  and  understand  its  nature 
and  proper  treatment.  There  is  certainly  some  danger, 
although  it  may  be  doubted  whetlier  ihere  is  sufficient 
warrant  for  the  assertion  which  has  been  made  to  the 
effect  that  each  year  hundreds  die  in  places  far  from  the 
localities  where  the  cause  of  their  death  originates,  from 
the  use  of  meats,  butter  or  cheese  containing  the  germs 
of  the  disease ;  for  the  meats  and  dairy  products  from 
localities  infected  by  the  scourge  have  to  seek  a  market 
away  from  home,  and  consequently  find  their  way  to  the 
larger  towns.  Nevertheless,  the  author,  who  has  had  an 
opportunity  of  observing  and  studying  this  disease  in  the 
rich  valleys  of  the  Southern  mountain  region,  has  found 
it  exceedingly  prevalent  there,  and  the  resident  physicians 
and  even  the  people  themselves  look  for  it  as  a  matter  of 
course  in  the  summer  and  fall  months.  Deaths  fre- 
quently occur  from  the  use  of  infected  milk  and  many 
persons  are  to  be  seen  whose  systems  have  been  perma- 
nently weakened  by  the  poison.  From  its  peculiarity 
there  is  no  means  of  prevention  except  avoiding  places 
known  to  be  subject  to  it,  or  of  avoiding  the  use  of  milk 
and  butter  from  cows  pastured  where  the  disease  may  be 
suspected  to  exist. 

EVERSION"    OF    THE    UTERUS. 

A  rather  common  disorder  in  dairies  is  the  prolapsus 
or  eversion  of  the  womb.  Sometimes  this  disorder  goes 
no  further  than  the  ejection  of  the  vagina  ;  but  in  any 
case  it  is  apt  to  be  troublesome,  as  the  nature  of  it  is  not 
understood.  The  disturbance  is  first  noticed  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  red  soft  tumor  between  the  lips  of  the 
vulva  as  the  animal  is  lying,  or  the  whole  organ  may  be 
found  protruded  and  dragging  in  the  filth  of  the  gutter  or 
stable  floor.     By  an  easily  recognized  corruption  of  terms 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  457 

this  accident  is  popularly  kmmi\  as  "falling  of  the 
withers."  It  occurs  mostly  after  calving,  when  the  os 
uteri  or  opening  of  the  organ  is  dilated.  The  malady 
has  heen  known  for  ages  and  an  ancient  Roman  veterina- 
rian (Vegetius),  writing  of  it,  made  the  useful  sugges- 
tion to  use  an  inflated  pig's  bladder  as  a  means  of  pres- 
sure to  retain  the  organ  after  its  return  to  its  position. 

The  treatment  is  as  follows.  The  organ  is  to  be  care- 
fully washed  with  warm  water  and  returned  through  the 
orifice  gradually  by  the  fingers — the  nails  having  been 
closely  pared  to  avoid  injury.  The  organ  is  to  be  held 
and  supported  meanwhile  on  a  sheet  held  by  assistants, 
and  when  in  a  proper  position  the  extremity  of  it  is  pushed 
into  the  .opening  by  the  closed  fist ;  the  uterus  folding 
in  upon  itself  by  the  pressure  as  it  is  carried  into  its  place. 
When  the  uterus  has  been  returned  to  its  position  it  is 
held  there  by  means  of  a  bandage  across  the  hind  parts, 
so  arranged  as  to  support  it  without  interfering  with  the 
evacuations.  To  repress  spasmodic  efforts  to  expel  the 
organ,  laudanum  is  given  in  doses  of  two  ounces  each,  re- 
peated at  intervals  of  two  hours  if  necessary.  As  the 
trouble  is  almost  sure  to  occur  with  the  next  calf,  cows 
subject  to  it  should  be  fattened  off  as  soon  as  may  be. 

RETENTION    OF  F(ETA.L  MEMBRAKES  OR   AFTER-BIRTH. 

This  is  a  very  common  trouble  in  dairies  and  occurs 
more  frequently  with  cows  than  with  any  other  animals. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  foetal  membranes  of  the 
cow  are  attached  to  the  surface  of  the  uterus,  for  their 
support,  by  a  large  number  of  broad  attachments  called 
cotyledons,  varying  from  forty  to  a  hundred  ;  these  at 
times  adhere  quite  firmly,  and  some  of  them  do  not  sepa- 
rate until  after  the  os  uteri  has  closed  and  holds  the 
membranes  partly  ejected  and  partly  retained.  The 
trouble,  however,   is  not  serious,  unless    through  some 


458  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

complication,  and  generally  disappears  by  th©-  slow  decom- 
position and  discharge  or  absorption  of  the  membranes. 
But  it  is  disagreeable  and  at  times  injurious  to  the  cows, 
because  of  the  absorption  of  the  fetid  matter,  and  the 
effect  of  this  upon  the  milk,  as  well  as  upon  the  health 
of  the  cow.  The  cause  of  this  defect  is  supposed  to  be 
the  earliness  of  the  calving  and  the  immaturity  of  the 
preparatory  condition  of  the  uterus.  When  the  birth  is 
a  few  days  after  the  average  time  there  is  rarely  any 
trouble  of  this  kind.  It  has  also  been  found  that  when 
a  cow  retains  the  membranes  with  the  first  calf,  it  is  apt 
to  do  so  always  afterwards.  The  use  of  moldy  fodder  is 
believed  to  promote  this  retention,  and  there  are  many 
other  popular  opinions  in  this  regard  which  have  no  foun- 
dation in  fact. 

The  treatment  proper  under  the  special  circumstances 
varies  with  the  nature  of  the  case.  If  there  are  no  com- 
plications and  the  cow  performs  her  functions  satisfac- 
torily, the  membranes  may  be  left  for  a  week  or  ten  days 
until  they  part  naturally;  but  if  fever  or  other  disturb- 
ance of  the  system  occurs,  and  the  animal  is  suffering, 
then  assistance  is  called  for.  This  may  be  afforded  by 
giving  one  of  the  following  infusions: 

4  ounces  of  laurel  berries, 

2      "        "  anise  seed, 

4       *'        "  bicarbonate  of  soda, 

steeped  in  four  quarts  of  water  and  given  in  two  doses, 
with  twelve  hours  between.  If  necessary  it  Is  repeated, 
but  usually  it  is  effective  within  twenty-four  hours.    Or, 

1  ounce  of  snvin  leaves, 

i       "      *'  carbonate  of  potassa, 

in  one  pint  of  water.  The  decoction  is  strained  and 
given  lukewarm;  the  dose  is  repeated  every  six  hours.   Or, 

8  ounces  of  powdered  savin, 
6      "        "  molasses, 
4     "        *'  powdered  cumin, 
2i    "        "  essence  of  rue, 
2i    "        "         "      "  savin, 

2  quarts  of  alcohol. 


DISEASES  OP  COWS.  459 

This  tincture,  well  infused,  is  given  in  doses  of  three 
ounces,  in  two  quarts  of  infusion  of  savin  leaves. 

The  removal  of  the  membranes  by  manual  force  is 
recommended  when  they  are  wholly  or  in  greater  part  re- 
tained, and  are  causing  serious  injury.  This  is  done  as 
follows  :  A  person  with  a  small  hand  and  arm,  which  are 
well  oiled,  takes  hold  of  the  exposed  portion  of  the 
membranes  with  the  left  hand  and  follows  them  into 
the  uterus  with  the  right  hand.  Feeling  cautiously  for 
the  attachments,  each  one  is  carefully  separated  until  all 
are  loosened,  when  they  come  away  immediately  without 
any  further  trouble.  In  case  of  partial  retention  of  the 
membranes  one  ounce  of  hyposulphite  of  soda  may  be 
given  daily  as  an  antiseptic  to  prevent  harm  by  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  retained  matter. 

TUMORS   OF  THE   JAW. 

The  frequently  occurring  hard  swellings  on  the  jaw  are 
caused  by  a  disease  of  the  jawbone  which  is  contagious, 
and  is  produced  by  a  special  germ  which  lives  and  grows 
at  the  expense  of  the  bony  substance.  It  is  known  as 
actino  mykosis,  or  ^^ lump-jaw."  It  is  constitutional 
and  descends  by  heredity.  It  first  appears  as  a  small 
nodule  upon  the  side  of  the  face  or  on  the  jawbone. 
This  grows  gradually  into  a  large  tumor  which  dis- 
charges extremely  fetid  pus,  known  by  its  odor  to  come 
from  the  decaying  bone.  The  progress  of  the  disease  is 
slow  but  sure.  The  jaw  is  gradually  eaten  away  and 
the  animal  perishes  from  inability  to  eat.  The  disease, 
however,  is  not  always  fatal,  as  it  has  been  known  to  suc- 
cumb to  antiseptic  treatment  when  in  its  early  stages. 
Some  valuable  animals,  treated  by  advice  of  the  author 
with  hyposulphite  of  soda  m  one-ounce  doses  daily, 
continued  for  three  months,  have  gradually  recovered, 
without  any  permanent  injury  or  blemish. 


460 

Sometimes  tlie  disease  attacks  the  tongue,  wliich  be- 
comes swollen  and  sloughs  away  until  the  animal  perishes. 
In  this  form  of  the  disorder  the  antiseptic  treatment 
undertaken  at  the  outset  is  the  only  hope  of  saving  the 
animal.  Animals  having  this  constitutional  taint  should 
never  be  used  for  breeding  purposes. 

APHTHA, 

This  disorder  affects  the  lips  and  tongue,  producing 
painful  blisters  which  break  and  form  raw  sores;  the  tip 
of  the  tongue  may  also  be  affected  so  that  the  animal 
cannot  eat  and  falls  off  in  condition  and  milk  very 
rapidly.  The  disease  readily  yields  to  simple  treatment. 
A  pound  of  Epsom  salts,  followed  twenty-four  hours 
afterwards  by  two-dram  doses  of  chlorate  of  potash, 
daily  for  a  few  days,  usually  brings  about  a  cure.  The 
sores  are  washed  twice  daily  with  a  solution  of  two  drams 
of  the  chlorate  in  a  quart  of  water.  While  under  treat- 
ment the  animal  should  be  fed  soft  nutritious  food. 

An  epizootic  form  of  this  disease  is  quite  common  in 
England,  but  so  far  no  case  of  it  has  been  known  to 
occur  in  America.  It  is  known  as  '^foot  and  mouth 
disease,"  the  feet  also  being  affected  in  a  similar  manner 
as  the  lips  and  tongue  ;  blisters,  and  raw  sores  breaking 
out  around  the  coronet  and  in  the  cleft  of  the  feet.  As 
this  disease  may  be  imported  at  any  time,  it  will  be 
well  to  describe  the  nature  and  treatment  of  it.  It 
appears  first  by  a  shivering  fit,  followed  by  fever,  hot 
inflamed  mouth  and  lips,  lameness  of  the  feet,  and  ten- 
derness of  the  udder  and  teats.  In  two  days  large  blisters 
appear  on  the  lips,  feet  and  teats,  and  the  animal  suffers 
greatly.  The  disease  has  a  period  of  about  two  weeks, 
when  the  symptoms  abate  and  finally  disappear,  leaving, 
however,  its  germs  of  contagion  hidden  in  the  building 
and  the  fields,  for  the  infection  of  fresh  victims.  Death 
rarely  ensues;  but  the  cows  are  often  rendered  useless 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  461 

for  the  dairy.  The  only  treatment  is  palliative.  A  dose 
of  Epsom  salts,  the  chlorate  of  potash  mentioned  above, 
with  the  chlorate  wash  for  the-  mouth.  A  solution  of 
borax — two  ounces  in  a  quart  of  water — with  two  ounces 
of  honey  and  one  dram  of  carbolic  acid  added,  may  be 
applied  to  the  feet,  which  should  be  kept  bandaged. 

ERGOTISM. 

This  disorder  is  produced  by  feeding  smutty  corn 
fodder  or  ergoted  grass,  and  in  some  cases  by  means  of 
musty  hay  or  other  food.  The  result  is  vesicular  erup- 
tions of  the  mouth  and  gangrene  of  the  feet.  Outbreaks 
of  this  disease  have  been  mistaken  for  foot  and  mouth 
disease ;  but  no  intelligent  person,  much  less  a  veteri- 
narian, should  be  led  into  this  error.  For  the. gangrene 
of  the  feet  is  entirely  different  from  the  watery  blisters 
in  epizootic  aphtha,  and  appears  as  a  ring  of  dead  tissue 
which  gradually  becomes  deeper  and  deeper  until  the 
hoof  falls  off  and  finally  the  feet  separate,  leaving  the 
animals  entirely  helpless.  There  is  no  cure  for  this  dis- 
order when  it  takes  on  this  serious  form,  but  in  its  early 
stages  cure  is  possible  by  means  of  cooling  purgatives  to 
clear  the  system  of  the  poison  and  soothing,  healing 
applications  to  the  diseased  surfaces.  A  mixture  of 
tincture  of  myrrh  and  glycerine  painted  on  the  sores 
will  relieve  the  pain  and  lead  to  recovery. 

• 

BLOATI^S-G    (indigestion?-). 

When  cattle  are  fed  to  repletion  upon  wet  green  fodder 
fermentation  takes  place  in  the  paunch  with  the  evolu- 
tion of  a  large  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  dis- 
tends the  stomach  and  causes  it  to  press  dangerously 
upon  the  lungs  and  interfere  with  the  breathing.  Un- 
less relieved,  the  animal  quickly  dies  of  suffocation.     As 


463 


THE   DAIRYMAID'S  MANUAL. 


an  immediate  and  safe  cure  is  possible,  it  is  useless  to 
waste  time  in  trying  questionable  remedies.  This  cure 
is  to  perforate  the  paunch  at  the 
point  of  its  greatest  distension  with 
an  instrument  known  as  a  trocar, 
which  is  contained  in  a  separate  tube 
called  a  canula  (figure  106).  This 
instrument  is  plunged  into  the  paunch 
at  a  point  equidistant  from  the  point 
of  the  hip,  the  last  rib  and  the  loin  ; 
being  the  center  of  a  triangle  drawn 
from  these  points  to  each  other.  The 
trocar  should  be  pointed  downwards 
to  escape  the  kidneys  and  the  muscles 
of  the  loin.  It  is  then  drawn  out, 
leaving  the  canula  in  the  wound.  It 
will  help  to  relieve  the  animal  to 
pour  through  the  canula  into  the 
paunch  a  quart  of  a  solution  of  car- 
bonate of  ammonia,  or  a  solution  of 
two  ounces  of  hyposulphite  of  soda  in 
a  pint  of  water  ;  either  of  which  will 
stop  the  fermentation  and  relieve 
the  bloating.  Food  should  be  given 
sparingly  for  a  few  days  after  this 
until  the  stomach  recovers  its  tone. 
As  has  been  observed,  '^  prevention 
is  better  than  cure,"  and  this  accident 
or  mistake  is  most  easily  prevented  by  ordinary  caution 
and  care  in  feeding  or  pasturing  green  fodder. 


Fig.  106. 


CHOKIN^G. 


When  feeding  roots  or  apples,  carelessness,  so  common 
among  hired  help,  may  lead  to  the  accidental  stoppage 
of  the  gullet  by  a  piece  of  the  food  which  has  been 
swallowed  whole.     This  is  easily  prevented  by  chopping 


DISEASES   OF   COWS.  463 

such  food  finely  in  a  box  by  means  of  a  spade  with  the 
edge  sharpened  and  feeding  it  with  a  little  ground 
meal,  or  finely  cut  hay  or  grass.  When  an  accident  of 
this  kind  does  happen  it  is  repaired  very  quickly  by 
crushing  the  obstacle  in  the  throat  in  this  manner  :  A 
block  of  smooth  thin  board  is  placed  upon  each  side  of 
the  gullet  over  the  obstacle,  one  person  holds  a  heavy 
block  to  one  side  of  the  throat  and  another  person  gives 
the  opposite  block  a  smart  blow  with  a  mallet.  This 
crushes  the  soft  piece  of  root  without  injuring  the  gullet; 
if  it  is  slightly  bruised,  it  will  heal  in  a  few  days,  and  the 
injury  will  be  less  than  that  resulting  from  the  use  of  a 
probang  by  which  tlie  obstacle  is  violently  forced  down- 
wards into  the  stomach. 

DIARRHEA. 

Nature  always  makes  efforts  for  its  own  relief,  and 
diarrhea  is  the  result  of  an  effort  of  this  kind  to  relieve 
the  bowels  from  some  offensive  matter.  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  the  effect  of  a  diseased  condition  of  the  bowels, 
as  in  tuberculosis,  when  the  functions  of  the  bowels  are 
disturbed  and  the  food  passes  through  in  an  undigested 
state.  But  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  is  caused 
by  overfeeding  and  consequent  indigestion.  Calves 
gorged  with  milk,  or  given  cold  or  sour  milk  when  used 
to  warm  and  sweet  milk,  or  under  other  sudden  change 
in  the  feeding,  suffer  seriously  from  this  disorder.  Cows 
that  are  gorged  with  grain  or  immature  fodder,  or  sup- 
plied with  impure  water,  become  diseased  in  the  same 
manner. 

The  remedy  is  to  give  a  gentle  purgative,  soft  and 
emollient  and  soothing  to  the  irritated  membranes.  A 
pint  of  raw  linseed  oil  is  useful,  and  should  be  followed 
by  well  boiled  oatmeal  or  linseed  gruel,  with  soft  easily 
digested  food  given  in  small  quantities.  After  the 
diarrhea  is  reduced,  a  tonic  should  be  given :   as   one 


464  THE  dairyman's  mantal. 

dram  eacli  of  powdered  sulphate  of- iron,  gentian,  and 
ginger  root,  given  in  a  bran  mash  or  cut  feed  once  a 
day.  For  calves  three  months  old  or  less,  a  quart,  and 
no  more,  of  new  milk  warmed  to  100  degrees  may  be  given 
twice  a  day.  If  the  diarrhea  is  accompanied  by  spasms, 
twenty  drops  of  a  mixture  of  two  drams  of  tincture  of 
rhubarb,  one  dram  of  tincture  of  opium,  and  one  dram 
of  tincture  of  camphor,  may  be  given  in  a  little  hot 
new  milk  and  repeated  every  two  hours  until  the 
spasms  cease.  If  this  cessation  does  not  ensue  after 
three  doses,  double  the  quantity.  For  calves  over  three 
months  old  the  above  doses  may  be  trebled. 

IMPACTION    OF    THE    STOMACH.      INDIGESTION". 

When  food  is  not  digested  it  remains  in  the  stomach, 
usually  in  the  third  compartment  or  '^  manifolds,"  where 
it  causes  injBiammation  of  the  lining  membrane,  and,  dry- 
ing by  the  heat,  forms  a  hard  mass  or  cakes  between  the 
folds  of  the  stomach.  This  arrest  of  the  digestive  func- 
tions and  the  consequent  disturbance  of  the  nervous 
system  give  rise  to  serious  disorder,  pojnilarly  termed 
'^  dr}*  murrain."  Suspended  rumination  (loss  of  cud) 
follows  first,  distress  from  the  pain,  and  finally  stupor 
or  frenzy  from  the  resulting  congestion  of  the  brain. 
When  stupor  occurs  the  animal  rests  in  a  state  of  drowsi- 
ness, wdth  the  head  pressed  against  a  wall,  fence  or  other 
support ;  if  frenzy;,  the  animal  bellows,  dashes  itself 
about,  breaking  the  horns  and  bruising  the  head  madly, 
until  death  ensues  in  a  few  hours.  Over-feeding  upon 
wet  grass,  rank  fodder,  smutty  cornstalks,  dry  stalks  in 
a  corn  stubble,  or  any  other  food  that  is  not  digestible  is 
the  most  frequent  cause  of  this  disorder. 

Active  purgatives  with  copious  doses  of  thin  gruels 
and  stimulants  are  required.  Two  pounds  of  Epsom  or 
Glauber  salts  dissolved  in  two  quarts  of  warm  water  is 
to  be  given.     Molasses  added  freely  has  been  found  use- 


DISEASES   OF  COWS.  465 

fal.  Copious  injections  of  warm  soapy  water  are  given 
soon  after.  Two-ounce  doses  of  carbonate  of  ammonia 
follow  the  purgative  at  intervals  of  three  hours,  with 
abundance  of  thin  linseed  gruel.  If  the  later  stages 
occur,  thirty  grains  of  nux  vomica  should  be  given  and 
relocated  every  half  hour  and  the  injections  continued. 
When  the  animal  becomes  violent  it  should  be  secured 
where  it  can  do  no  harm,  and  if  need  be,  sheaves  of  straw 
should  be  so  disposed  as  to  protect  it  from  injury.  On 
recovery  the  feeding  .should  be  gradually  restored  and  a 
course  of  tonics  followed  for  two  or  three  weeks.  Bran 
and  linseed  meal  mashes  with  gentian  and  ginger  will  be 
found  useful. 

TUBERCULOSIS. 

The  best  bred  and  fed  cows  are  subject  to  an  insidious 
but  most  serious  disorder  which  becomes  constitutional, 
and  is  contagious  under  certain  favoring  conditions  and 
disposition  of  the  exposed  animals.  This  disease  con- 
sists of  the  disorganization  of  the  tissue  of  various  im- 
portant organs  and  the  formation  of  tubercles  or  cysts 
which  are  filled  with  solid  grayish  matter  which  in  time 
changes  to  a  soft,  yellowish  cheesy  mass.  These  cells 
rupture  and  discharge  this  soft  matter,  leaving  cavities 
of  considerable  size,  which  sometimes  destroy  the  greater 
part  of  some  important  organ,  as  the  lungs,  liver,  spleen, 
kidneys,  etc.  •  This  disease  is  communicated  by  inocu- 
lation and  by  eating  the  diseased  meat,  or  the  milk,  if 
the  udder  is  diseased ;  but  it  is  more  often  produced  as 
the  result  of  some  local  inflammation  which  seems  to 
offer  a  favorable  opportunity  for  the  development  of  the 
specific  germ  which  accompanies  this  disease  and  which 
is  abundantly  scattered  in  the  atmosphere  waiting  to  find 
a  resting  place  where  it  may  serve  its  destructive°purpose 
in  nature. 

The  symptoms  vary  considerably  according  to  the  seat 


466 

of  the  disease,  but  under  all  circumstances  there  is  con- 
siderable fever,  with  loss  of  activity,  harsh  skin,  nauseous 
breath,  stiffness  and  weakness  of  the  limbs,  dry  cough, 
thin  blue  milk,  swellings  of  the  glands  of  the  throat  or 
of  the  joints,  constant  desire  for  the  company  of  the  bull, 
and  unusual  feverish  brightness  of  the  eyes,  which  are 
sunk  in  the  orbits.  If  the  bowels  are  affected  there  is  a 
profuse  and  obstinate  diarrhea.  As  the  disease  progresses 
the  symptoms  become  more  intense  and  in  time  the 
animal  perishes  from  impaired  respiration  or  the  fetid 
and  profuse  diarrhea.  At  times  the  bones  are  affected, 
and  these  gradually  crumble  and  slough  away. 

Recovery  is  very  rare,  and  when  it  occurs  the  animal  is 
left  in  impaired  health  and  too  much  weakened  to  be  of 
any  value  in  the  dairy,  more  esj^ecially  as  the  taint  in  the 
blood  is  surely  transmitted  to  the  progeny.  Prevention 
includes  the  removal  of  infection,  healthful  breeding — 
avoiding  the  physical  deterioration  caused  by  too  close 
inbreeding — and  the  use  of  only  robust  and  vigorous  par- 
ents, wholesome  feeding,  avoiding  undue  stimulus  of  the 
milking  capacity,  and  the  maintenance  of  vigorous  con- 
dition by  all  the  best  hygienic  methods.  Drainage  of 
fields  and  pure  water  are  greatly  helpful  in  this  direction. 

VERMIjq^OUS   BRONCHITIS    IN   CALVES. 

Cattle  are  infested  by  a  slender  thread  worm  which  in- 
habits the  bowels,  lungs  and  bronchial  tubes.  Mature 
animals  are  not  seriously  affected  by  these  parasites,  but 
calves  are  often  attacked  by  them  and  suffer  gi-eatly,  fre- 
quently dying  of  the  interference  with  the  respiration. 
These  worms  are  commonly  known  as  Strongylus  jilaria, 
and  they  are  the  same  kind  as  those  which  produce 
'Opining,"  "paper  skin,"  or  anoemia  in  young  lambs,  and 
"  gapes"  in  young  chickens,  and  infest  many  species  of 
small  animals,  as  rabbits,  pheasants,  etc.     Consequently 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  467 

tlie  eggs  are  widely  distributed  in  meadows  and  pastures. 
They  gain  access  to  the  lungs  and  air  passages  of  the 
calves  from  the  stomach,  to  which  they  are  carried  in  the 
egg  form,  with  grass  or  hay  from  fields  which  have  been 
pastured  by  older  cattle.  The  young  worms  crawl  up 
the  gullet  to  the  throat  and  pass  downwards  to  the  bron- 
chial tubes,  where  they  live  upon  the  mucus  secreted  by 
the  irritated  membranes.  When  they  become  numerous 
they  produce  such  irritation  as  to  cause  a  constant  hack- 
ing husky  cough,  whence  the  disease  has  taken  the  com- 
mon name  of  "  husk."  In  time  they  gather  into  masses 
and  obstruct  the  passages  so  much  as  to  cause  suffoca- 
tion, and  the  calf  falls  into  convulsions  and  dies.  Pre- 
vention is  obviously  difficult,  but  cure  is  easy.  This 
consists  in  saturating  the  system  with  the  fumes  of  tur- 
pentine, by  giving  long  continued  doses  of  half  an  ounce 
every  morning  one  hour  before  feeding.  This  may  be 
given  in  a  teacupful  of  milk  or  some  sweetened  oatmeal 
gruel,  and  should  be  continued  for  ten  days  and  then  re- 
peated after  an  interval  of  three  or  four  days. 

DEPRAVED   APPETITE. 

At  times  cows  and  other  cattle  are  found  eating 
rotten  wood,  old  bones,  manure,  and  other  coarse  rub- 
bish. This  unnatural  appetite  is  due  to  some  irritation 
of  the  stomach  which  deranges  the  digestion  and  causes 
a  morbid  craving  for  these  substances.  There  are  various 
causes  for  this  irritation.  The  condition  of  pregnancy, 
disease  of  the  liver,  tuberculosis,  and  the  presence  of 
foreign  matters  in  the  stomach ;  as  balls  of  hair  and 
other  concretions  of  indigestible  matter,  stones,  nails, 
and  pieces  of  wire,  will  produce  this  result.  The  dis- 
order should  be  treated  as  ordinary  indigestion,  by  giving 
pint  doses  of  raw  linseed  oil  and  dilute  nitro-muriatic 
acid  as  a  solvent  of  the  concretions  and  a  tonic.  Two 
drams  of  the  acid  is  given  in  one  pint  of  water  daily  just 


468  THE  dairyman's  manual. 

before  feeding.  This  disorder  is  almost  alwa3'S  associated 
with  hide-bound,  dry  rough  coat,  and  other  evidences  of 
unthrift  for  want  of  proper  nutrition.  The  most  nutri- 
tious food  is,  therefore,  to  be  given  in  moderation  to 
secure  perfect  digestion.  Bran  and  linseed  mashes,  ciit 
roots  with  corn  meal,  and  otlier  good  wholesome  food 
should  be  provided,  but  given  in  light  rations.  Some- 
times this  habit  is  caused  by  the  presence  of  sand  in  the 
stomach  taken  in  with  grass  which  has  been  washed  by 
floods,  or  from  light  sandy  soils.  In  such  cases,  feeding 
fine  middlings  with  moistened  cut  hay  or  green  fodder 
will  help  to  relieve  the  stomach  by  carrying  off  the  ad- 
hering sand. 

KED- WATER. 

This  is  a  disease  of  badly-fed  cows  which  suffer  from 
indigestion  ;  the  result  of  which  is  to  disturb  the  func- 
tions of  the  liver  and  change  the  condition  of  the  blood. 
The  blood  is  thin  and  watery  from  t),  deficiency  of  fibrine 
and  red  globules,  which  are  lost  through  the  kidneys,  and 
communicate  a  dark  brown,  red,  or  black  color  to  the 
urine.  Cattle,  feeding  in  woods  or  swamps  and  forced 
to  eat  coarse  unwholesome  herbage,  are  usually  affected 
in  this  manner.  The  method  of  prevention  is  obvious. 
The  mode  of  cure  is  to  give  an  active  purgative  to  relieve 
the  liver ;  a  pint  of  raw  linseed  or  olive  oil,  with  two 
drams  of  podophyllin,  may  be  given,  after  which  copious 
drinks  of  linseed  tea,  with  two-dram  doses  of  chlorate 
of  potassa,  and  two  drams  of  powdered  ginger,  should  be 
continued  for  several  days.  Nutritious  and  easily  di- 
gested food,  as  bran  mashes,  cut  feed  with  ground  corn 
and  oats,  or  chopped  roots  are  required. 

VICES  OF  cows. 

Cows  are  given  to  few  vices,  and  all  that  appertain  to 
them  are  caused  by  faults  of  management.     The  most 


DISEASES  OP  COWS.  469 

troublesome  are  the  habits  of  kicking,  holding  up  the 
milk,  and  sucking  themselves.  Cows  are  caused  to  kick 
by  fear;  and  the  act  is  one  of  defense.  Some  young 
heifers  kick  when  first  handled  in  the  effort  to  miik 
them  and  from  nervousness  ;  but  if  they  are  gently  used 
this  trouble  is  easily  got  over  and  nothing  more  of  it 
may  be  seen.  If  the  young  animal  is  then  mismanaged 
a  vicious  habit  may  be  formed  ;  if  she  is  punished  by 
beating,  or  is  whipped,  especailly  if  this  is  cruelly  done, 
as  is  usual  in  such  a  case,  the  association  of  the  punish- 
ment with  the  act  becomes  fixed  upon  the  memory,  and 
ever  afterward  the  cow  may  be  a  kicker,  because  it 
naturally  expects  the  punishment,  at  milking  time  and 
tries  to  defend  itself  from  it.  The  frequent  change  of 
ownership  also  greatly  helps  to  produce  this  habit,  be- 
cause some  cows  will  resent  the  approach  of  a  stranger ; 
but  this  only  happens  with  very  fretful  cows  or  those 
which  have  been  habitually  ill-used. 

This  habit  may  be  prevented  by  the  cautious  and 
kindly  treatment  of  the  calf  and  heifer  before  she  be- 
comes a  cow.  A  young  calf  will  usually  make  an  at- 
tempt to  kick  when  the  udder  and  teats  are  handled,  but 
the  objection  is  soon"  removed  by  gentle  persistence  in 
the  treatment  previously  recommended  both  for  calves 
and  heifers,  in  regard  to  handling,  brushing,  and  other 
familiar  attentions.  A  cow  that  has  been  thus  reared 
and  trained  will  never  become  a  kicker  except  by  very 
brutal  treatment.  To  cure  this  vice  is  sometimes,  if  not 
always,  easy.  There  has  never  been  found  any  difficulty 
about  it  when  using  patience  and  kind  and  gentle  treat- 
ment, notwithstanding  some  occasional  relapses  and  an- 
noying accidents.  The  author's  method  of  treatment 
has  been  as  follows: — First,  to  secure  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  the  animal ;  second,  to  approach  her  cau- 
tiously, both  to  avoid  alarming  her  and  to  secure  oneself 
against  an  attack ;  lastly,  never  to  strike  or  punish  the 


470  THE   dairyman's  MAKtJAL. 

COW  for  an  attempt  to  kick,  but,  instead,  to  soothe  her 
and  so  remove  the  fear  of  danger  which  has  given  occa- 
sion for  the  kicking.  All  this  may  be  done  by  gently 
patting  and  stroking  the  cow,  speaking  to  her  when 
approaching  her,  and  familiarizing  her  to  the  handling. 
Arter  this  milk  her  in  a  small  pail,  which  can  be  held  so 
that  it  cannot  be  npset,  and  with  the  left  arm  pressing 
upon  the  cow's  leg  so  that  a  kick  can  be  warded  off  as 
much  as  possible.  While  milking,  the  cow  is  spoken  to 
to  attract  her  attention,  and  every  movement  about  her 
should  be  slow  and  deliberate,  so  as  to  avoid  anything  to 
cause  her  to  suspect  that  a  blow  might  follow  the  move- 
ment. When  the  milking  is  safely  over  the  cow  is 
petted  and  spoken  to,  and  a  handful  of  meal  or  oats  may 
be  given  to  her.  If  a  kick  is  made  or  threatened,  the 
cow  is  never  to  be  beaten  for  it,  but  spoken  to  kindly. 
No  other  person  than  the  milker  should  approach  the 
cow  during  the  milking.  Having  entirely  cured  some 
cows  by  this  treatment  that  had  been  in  the  habit  of  kick- 
ing badly,  wholly  dispensing  with  sticks  and  ropes,  which 
only  irritate  the  cow,  we  have  confidence  that  there  are 
few  cows  that  have  been  so  utterly  spoiled  that  they  may 
not  yet  be  made  quite  gentle  by  it. 

Some  cows  kick  because  their  sight  is  defective  and 
they  cannot  distinguish  the  person  approaching  them. 
The  author  has  had  one  such  cow  that  was  perfectly  gentle 
and  kind  and  free  from  all  vice  whatever,  that  would  yet 
lash  cut  the  foot  when  approached  from  behind  without 
being  spoken  to,  and  especially  when  the  udder  was 
touched  on  the  wrong  side  suddenly  and  without  notice. 
Nevertheless,  when  spoken  to  she  would  turn  her  head 
and  lick  the  hand  stretched  out  to  her.  This  cow's 
sight  was  not  good,  and  the  defect  was  shown  in  other 
ways.  Such  cows  should  be  approached  and  handled 
always  with  gentleness,  or  they  may  be  very  easily  startled, 
when  it  is  instinctive  with  them  to  kick. 


DISEASES  OF  COWS.  471 

Holding  up  the  milk  occurs  chiefly  when  the  cow  is  fresh. 
A  cow  that  has  been  used  to  suckle  her  calf  will  natur- 
ally prefer  that  way  of  being  milked.    It  is  most  frequent 
with  cows  that  are  so  habituated,  and  for  this  reason  it  is 
rare  among  those  cows  whose  calves  are  not  permitted  to 
suck  them.     It  is  a  fault   more   easily  prevented   than 
cured,  and  at  the  same  time  one  that  is  very  trouble- 
some and  mischievous  in  its  results.     A  fresh  cow  that 
holds   up  her  milk  nearly  always  provokes  thereby  an 
attack  of  garget  and  future  loss  of  milk  all  through  the 
season,  so  that  the  dairyman  or  owner  of  a  family  cow 
should  be  on  the  watch  to  avert  the  trouble.     When  the 
calf  is  habitually  taken  from  the  cow  before  it  has  had 
time  to  suck,  the  cow  will  come  to  her  milk  naturally 
and  without  resistance,  and  this  practice  cannot  be  too 
strongly  recommended  as  a  constant  rule  in  the  dairy. 
When,  however,  the  trouble  has  occurred  and  a  remedy 
is  sought,  we  find  how  powerless  we  are  to  strive  with 
the  natural  instincts  of  an  animal  excited  to  stubborn 
resistance.     Many  devices  have  been  tried  and  recom- 
mended to  overcome  this  vicious  propensity,  but  none  of 
them  is  of  much  value.     One  of  these  is  to  hang  a  heavy 
chain  across  the  loins  ;  another  is  to  press  upon  the  loins 
forcibly  with  the  hands  while  efforts  are  being  made  to 
draw  the  milk.     Others  are  to  give  some  feed  at  milking 
time,  or  to  distract  in  some  way  the  attention  of  the  cow 
from  her  supposed  grievance.     Soothing  measures  and 
perseverance,  or  the  use  of  milking  tubes,  are  the  only 
effective  remedies.     To  give  some  feed  or  salt,  and  to 
sit  down  and  rub  the  udder  and  manipulate  the  teats  as 
in   milking^  and   to  persevere  with   gentleness,  is  often 
effective  ;  but  the  only  successful  method  of  getting  the 
milk  i^  by  the  use  of  milking  tubes  (more  particularly 
described  elsewhere),  by  which  the  milk  flows  by  force  of 
gravity  in  spite  of  any  unwillingness  of  the  cow.     The 
tubes  are  inserted  gently  into  the  teats  and  the  milk  runs 


472  THE  ^AIRVMAX'S   MA.XUAL. 

in  a  stream  until  all  is  drawn  off.  This  method,  or  any 
other,  is  only  temjDorary,  and  to  be  used  only  in  the 
special  emergency,  because  of  the  danger  of  injuring 
the  lining  membranes  of  the  teats  and  producing  inflam- 
mation of  the  udder. 

Self-sucking  is  the  worst  Adce  which  a  cow  can  con- 
tract. It  totally  destroys  her  usefulness  and  is  a  constant 
source  of  loss  and  disappointment.  It  is  contracted  by 
old  cows  as  well  as  young  ones,  and  cases  occur  in  which 
ten  or  twelve-year  old  animals  begin  to  practice  the  vice. 
How  it  is  learned  seems  to  be  unknown,  but  it  is  more 
frequent  than  might  be  suspected.  The  remedies  pro- 
posed have  been  numerous,  but  all  fail  excepting  that  of 
slitting  the  tongue,  by  which  the  act  of  suction  is  made 
impossible.  It  may  seem  that  this  is  a  cruel  and  unusual 
punishment,  but  it  it  not  so  severe  an  operation  as  cas- 
tration, and  we  do  not  hesitate  at  that  to  increase  the 
value  of  our  male  animals.  Even  a  kind  owner  need 
not  hesitate  to  recommend  the  operation  of  slitting 
the  tongue  when  the  cow  is  a  valuable  one,  the  division 
being  made  two  inches  in  length.  The  operation  should 
be  performed  when  the  cow  is  dry,  and  the  wound  heals 
very  soon.  It  is  necessary  to  give  soft  food  or  slop  until 
the  healing  is  well  advanced. 

Eecently,  having  been  consulted  by  the  owner  of  some 
valuable  cows  which  had  contracted  this  vice,  the  author 
designed  the  following  harness' which  wholly  prevented 
the  trouble.  A  surcingle  was  buckled  around  the  cow 
behind  the  forelegs,  and  a  halter  was  made  for  the  head. 
Both  of  these  were  provided  with  rings  to  which  a  stiff 
rod  of  tough  wood  was  fastened  by  snap-hooks  at  the 
ends;  the  rod  being  passed  between  the  forelegs.  This 
necessarily  prevents  the  cow  from  bringing  her  head  into 
the  position  required  to  reach  the  teats. 


,   Library 

»'.  'f^.  rotate.  Coll- 


INDEX 


Asterisks  (*)  indicate  Illustrations. 


Abortion  in  Cows .430 

Epizootic 431 

After-Birth,  Retention  of. 457 

Agrostis  Stolonifera 69 

vulgaris 69 

Alopecurus  pratensis. 70 

Aphtha - 460 

A  rrlienatherum  Avenaceum 70 

Ayrshire  Breed,  The 33 

Barn,  A  Dairy* .399 

for  Winter  Dairying 411 

Barn  and  Stables,  Cheap* 109 

Bloating* ..461 

Blue  Grass 72 

Borax  for  Presemng  Butter. .  .305 

Bran,  Wheat 133 

Bull,  Managing  a 53 

Butter,  Composition  of 286 

Disposal  of  at  Fancy  Prices-300 

Granular*. 278 

Materials  for  Preserving  ..303 

Packages  for*  . . . 294 

Product  of ....151 

Quality  in 296 

Salting  and  Tacking* 290 

Salting 304 

f         Soft - .284 

When,  will  not  come 282 

Calf,  Manaoing  the 56 

Calf  Pens,  iPlan  of* 187 

Calves,  Rearing,  for  the  Dairy.  184 

Cattle,  Dutch  Belted.. 44 

North  Holland 36 

Swiss 44 

Centrifugal  Creamer* .232 

Separator .211 

Cellars  for  Milk* 239 

Cheese,  Composition  of 336 

Cheddar,  EngUsh .352 

American 854 

Fancy* -364 

Pot 370 

Sage 374 

Edam*... 375 

Neufchatel 379 

Brie .382 


I    Cheese,  Roquefort* 383 

I  Camembert* 388 

I  Factory* 345 

!  Apparatus  for* 350 

i    Cheese  Making 336 

I  Mechanism  of 344 

I  Process  of..:.. 351 

Chemistry  of 357 

I    Choking 462 

!    Churnin  g  an  d  Churns 275 

Rules  for .275 

Effect  of* 279 

Cisterns* ....121 

Clover 62 

Cold  Storage  for  Butter 306 

Colostrum*  194 

Cotton-Seed  Meal 136 

Corn  as  Grain  Food 132 

Cow,  Points  of  a  Breeding 56 

The  Native 30 

The  Family 419 

CoAV-Peas 133 

Cow-Pox* .445 

Cow  Stable,  Cheap*.. 117 

and  Yards*.... 98 

Cow  Sheds* ..107 

Cows  for  the  Dairy 26 

for  Winter  Dairying 410 

Vices  of ...468 

Cream  as  Food .274 

Clouted 269 

Chemical  Changes  in 267 

Churning  Sweet 266 

Color  of .212 

Diluting,  with  Water 268 

from  Transported  Milk  ...263 

Globules .210 

Ripening 270 

Right  Stage  for  Churning.  .270 
Separation  by  Centrifuge.  -261 

Specific  Gravity  of 208 

Variation  of 211 

Creameries .309 

Creamerv,  A  Connecticut*  -:..309 

for  600  Cows* 317 

Crested  Dog's  Tail 71 


474 


IKDEX. 


Crops  for  Dairy  Farms 59 

Cynosiiriis  cristahis 71 

Dactylis  glotrwrata 71 

Dairy  Buildings. 97 

Cows,  Breeding  and  Rear- 
ing   - -  -  -  50 

Farming 7 

Farm,  Plan  of* 21 

Management  of  Author's.. 178 
Dairy  Stock,  Cost  of  Keeping..  28 
Dairy-House,  The  Author's*. .  .249 

Dairvin  ix,  Milk .897 

Winter... 407 

Dairyman,  What  a,  should  be. .    9 
Dairymen,  N.  Y.  State,    Prac- 
tice of ...172 

Deep  Setting 237 

Depraved  Appetite .467 

Devon  Breed,  The ,..  45 

Diarrhea .463 

Diseases  of  Cows .426 

Mammary  Glands* 438 

Dry  Mui-rain 464 

Ensilage  of  Fodder 88 

Cost  of 96 

Ergotism 461 

Farm,  Managing  a  Run-Down.164 

The  Author's* 21 

Farms,  Dairy 17 

Family  Dairy,  The 418 

Fescue,  Meadow 72 

Grass,  Tall. .72 

Festitca  Fratensis 72* 

elatior 72 

Floors,  Stable* ...102 

Foaming  in  the  Churn .283 

Fodder,  Cutting  the 160 

Corn 60 

Foods,  Concentrated .154 

Condimental 142 

Composition  of  Dairy 129 

for  Use  in  the  Dairy .127 

Manurial  Constituents  of  ..171 

Scientific  Analysis  of 153 

Fowl-Meadow  Grass 70 

Garget,  Treatment  of 442 

Gould,  John,  on  Ensilage 93 

Gould,  John,  on  Creameries... 321 
Grass  and  Clover  Seed,  Sowing.  67 
Grasses  for  Pastures  and  Mead- 
ows  66 

Table    of,  for   Permanent 

Sowing 73 

Hay  Making 77 

Heifers,  Feeding  and  Training.  189 

Iee-House,ACheap* 326 

for  Private  Dairies* 330 

Rustic* 331 

and  Creamery* 333 


j   Ice-Houses :. ^24 

Ice-Pond,  Dam  for 325 

;   Ice,  Packing  for .  .329 

j   Impaction  of  Stomach 464 

j   Jersev  Breed,  The 37 

;   Kicking  Cows  - 227*,  470 

I  LaweSj'Sir  J.  B.,  on  Feeding  for 

I  Manure 167 

;   Malt  Sprouts -I;i5 

Mammitis  or  Garget 442 

Manure,  Disposal  of 86, 110 

Management  of    Cows  in  the 

Stable... 175 

Margarine 289 

Meadow  Foxtail  Grass. -. 70 

Milk,  Analysis  of* 200 

and  Milking  Apparatus. .  .213 

Botthng* 406 

Care  of. -. 231 

Cooling 403 

Composition  of. 191 

Dairy,  Managing  a. 400 

Diseased 449 

Distribution  of* .404 

Fever 450 

Formation  of*...   196 

Holding  up  the. 223 

Houses* 242 

Organs,  Development  of  ..  55 

Ropy 195 

Spattering 226 

Testing,  with  Lactometer. 205 

Trouble  with 228 

in  Winter  Dairy 412 

Milkers,  Hard* 225 

Milking  Furniture 219 

Intervals  of 217 

Methods  of 215 

Process  of .220 

Tubes* 222 

MiUet 63 

Mold  in  Cheese 362 

Muncy,  Professor,  on    Mixing 

Food 161 

Nutritive  Elements 75 

Oats,  Ground 131 

Oil-Test  for  Cream 272 

Oil  Meal,  Linseed. 136 

Orchard  Grass 71 

Palm  Nut  Meal 135 

Pans  for  Setting  Milk* 253 

Peas  as  Food  for  Milk 132 

F^ileum  prateiise 70 

Poa  serotina 70 

Poa  pratensis 72 

Polled  Norfolk,  The 46 

Pregnancy,  Period  of 58 

Rations,  Feeding 147 

Red  Top  Grass 69 


IHBEl. 


475 


Red  Water 468 

Refrigerator-Closets  for  Milk*  253 

Rennet* - - 340 

Rice  Meal 185 

Root  Crops 63 

Rules,  One  Hundred.-.. 392 

Rye  for  a  Soiling  Crop  - 82 

Sabbath,  Observance  of 159 

Salt  in  an  Animal 142 

Seed,  Sowing  Grass  and  Clover.  67 

Self-Sucking  Cows 469 

Setting  Milk - 234 

for  Cream 255 

ShaUow  Pan  System 238 

Shelves,  Rotating,  for  Dairy*. -251 

Shorthorn  Breed,  The 32 

Silo,  Description  of... 91 

Soiling  and  Soiling  Crops 80 

South,  Dallying  in  the 24 

Southern  States,  Soiling  in 87 

Specks,  White,  in  Butter 284 

Spring,  Drawing  Water  from  a.  120 


Spring-Houses*. 246 

Soiling,  Cutting  Fodder  for 84 

Stable  for  a  Family  Cow 113 

with  Poultry  House. ..  »..-115 
Yard  and  Pens,  Plan  of*  ..  98 

Swiss  Cattle,  The 44 

Tall  Oat  Grass 70 

Temperature  for  Churning 281 

Timothy  Grass. 70 

Teat,  Fistula  of 449 

Teats,  Obstructed 448 

Testing  the  Yield  of  Milk 138 

Tethering  Pins* 422 

Tuberculosis .465 

Tumors  of  Jaw 459 

Uterus,  Eversion  of 456 

Vaccine  Variola— Cow-Pox*.. .445 

Verminous  Bronchitis .466 

Vices  of  Cows *   468 

Water  Supply. 118 

White  Bent  Grass 69 

Yard  for  Dairy  Cows 104 


Alphabetical  Catalogue 
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Illustrated   Dictionary  of  Gardening.   Vols.  L,n.ni. 

and  IV.     Each 5.00 

Johnson,  M.  W.    HowtoPlant.    Paper 50 

Johnson,   Prof.  S.  W.    How  Crops  Feed  2.00 

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Jones,  B.  W.    The  Poamit  Plant.    Paper 50 

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Long,  Ellas  A.    Ornamental  Gardening  for  Americans 2.00 

Morton.    Farmer's  Calendar,.... 5.00- 

NlcholS.    Ciiemistryof  Farm  and  Sea 1.25 

Norton.    Elements  of  Scientific  A- riciilmre T5 

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Onions.    How  to  Raise  them  Profitably .20 

Our  Farm  of  Four  Acres.    P^pi so 

Pabor,  Wm.  E.    Colorado  as  an  Agricultural  State 1.50 

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Robinson.    Facts  for  Farmers 5.00 

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Sheehan,  JaS.     YourPhmts.     Paper 40 

Silos  and   Ensilage-    New  and  Enlarged  Edit-' on 50 

Stai;r.    Farm  Echoes 100 

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Stewart.     Sorghv.m  and  its  Products 1.50 

Ten  Acres  Enough i-^o 

The  Soil  of  the  Farm 100 

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Tim  Bunker  Papers;  or,  Yankee  Farming 150 

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American  Weeds  and  Useful  Plants 

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Heinrlch.     window  Flower  Garden 75 

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The  Anialenr's  Rose  Book 2.50 

HOOpeS.     Book  of  Ever-reens .3.00 

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My  Vineyard  at  Lakeview           1-25 

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